Vanguard
by StrifeOkami
Summary: Who am i? What is this place? What's my connection to the Reapers? These are a few of the questions that Jacob Terminus faces in the Mass Effect universe.
1. Chapter 1 Awakening

**I do not own Mass effect or any of it's characters. I only own my original ideas, and you get the rest.**

**This is my first story so i hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**Vanguard**

**Ch. 1**

**Awakening**

"Where the hell am I?" The first question that enters my mind, though no one answers. I sit up on what looks to be an operating table. The room I'm in appears to be a lab of some kind. I attempt to stand and feel a sharp pain on my arm.

"Ow. God damn it." I look down to see multiple IV's sticking into my forearm and wrist. Gently I remove the while looking around the room. It's small, only the table I was laying on, a chair and a counter top with medical supplies laid out. Then I notice a mirror at one end of the counter.

I look into the mirror and I see a man about 25 years in age, with long brown hair, an untrimmed beard, and what looks to be small surgical scars that haven't fully healed yet.

"So that's me, huh?" Then it hits me. "Who am I?" The question comes as a shock. I search my mind and find nothing, not a single memory of myself. I can identify everything in the room, and explain how it works, but I have no knowledge of myself.

I whip around and see a terminal. Quickly I walk over and try to access it to no avail.

"Fucking password." I say with obvious aggravation in my voice. As I stand there defeated a word pops into my head.

"Sovereign." The word seems to have some kind of strong meaning to me but I can't put my finger on it. I'm surprised when I type it into the terminal and it actually works. How the hell did I know that? I start sifting through files and find none that hold any clues. Until I come across a document entitled 'Project Vanguard'.

"That sounds promising." Though my hopes are quickly dismissed upon opening the file.

"You have got to be kidding me." The file is almost completely blacked out. When I get out of here I'm going to find whoever wrote this and punch them in the face for this. If you really don't want something to be seen that bad then destroy it.

But first things first, I have to get out of here. But without a name there won't be much I can do outside of here. Amidst my frustration I notice two words not blacked out.

"Jacob." "Terminus." Well it's not much of a name but that will have to do. There's another word. "Reaper." My train of thought is then rudely interrupted by the sound of a large explosion and gun fire in the distance.

"Oh damn it not now, NO ONES HOME!" I yell at whoever is causing the ruckus. Then I notice a logo for the Ascendency Company, a human medical firm. This must be their facility then.

I look around for a weapon. Sadly there are no fire arms, but I do find a scalpel laid out on the counter. I'm just going to ignore the thoughts of what they did to me with that and get ready for whomever is out there. That is the point when I realize that I am in nothing but what looks to be a pair of boxers.

"Well then I'd rather not fight in these." I then find a black shirt and pants to the left of me.

"Wow, someone is looking out for me." I quickly throw on the cloths and also find an Omni-tool. Nice, that will come in handy. Then I think to myself. Who is attacking the facility? Probably Batarians, they always want it dead if it involves humans. Or perhaps it's the council, maybe a spectre. That document is suspicious so maybe Ascendency rubbed the council the wrong way. "Rubbed." I'm going to ignore the image that just went through my mind.

My train of thought is once again interrupted, this time by voices outside the door. "I'll check in here. You continue down the hall." The formerly stated voice says.

"Well let's see who it is". I say as I ready myself for a fight, standing to the right of the door, hoping to get a jump on them if they're hostile. But to my surprise it isn't a batarian that walks through. But a small woman in an exosuit with hips that you wouldn't believe.

"Quarian?" I say revealing my location. She then proceeded to turn quickly and take aim with her shotgun. My reflexes kick in and I'm surprised with the results. At a speed I didn't think was possible I move out of the path of the gun, rush past the quarian holding said gun, and get ahold of her with the scalpel against her neck.

"Sorry but that's no way to say hello, now is it?" I say to her.

"Let go of me you bosh'tet!" she says as she struggles in my arms. She isn't very polite, though I doubt that I would be either given the situation.

"I will if you promise not to shoot me." I'm just nice that way I suppose. But I don't intend to hurt her either way. I don't know why but the idea of killing someone without a good reason seems to bother me.

"Fine just let me go." She demands. I release my grasp and finally get a decent look at her. She has a purple visor, and her hood is baggy and flared out at the side and back. Something not commonly seen on quarians.

"May I ask your name miss?" I ask. Though somehow she seems familiar.

"Tali'Zorah vas Neema. And you?" she asks with her gun still in her hands pointed down.

"Jacob Terminus." I say as she gives me a puzzled look. "I know, odd name." May I ask what exactly you're doing here?"

"There were rumors that this facility was running tests on active geth, so I was assigned a team to investigate." She answers.

"Geth. Interesting." Thinking back I did notice a file about the geth on the terminal, but overlooked it.

"What's your job here?" she asks.

"Job? I don't even know were here is." She looks at me puzzled again, or at least I think so. Hard to tell with the mask. "I just woke up on that table about five minutes ago with no memory." Was it five minutes? How long was I looking at that terminal?

"So what, you're some kind of test subject?" She asks. She is very perceptive.

"That's what I'm thinking." I respond. Another quarian voice can be heard over the radio.

"Tali, we've got geth pouring in. we have to get out of here." The voice says.

"Understood Praza. Let's go, this place will be up in smoke soon." Tali says to me in an oddly commanding tone.

"Just give me a second." I go back to the terminal and download all of the files to my newly acquired Omni-tool. "Ready."

We proceed out the door and to the left. We then regret that choice of direction as a large group of geth show up and start shooting at us. Without a proper weapon I have no hope of getting past them, and tali can't take them all so I throw the scalpel at the closest one, nailing it right in the flashlight thing, and grab tali. We then start running in the other direction.

This path leads to a door with a sign saying Armory. We enter and tali seals the door behind us. While she does that I look around for a weapon and armor. I quickly find some medium onyx armor and a phalanx pistol. I grab some thermal clips just in time to shot a geth as it breaks through the door. We're stuck there defending for a minute.

I take down the 6th geth when tali yells. 'Keelah. We've got to get out of here!" At that moment something hit me.

"I've got it!" I yell as I grab her and pull her to a maintenance shaft in the back of the room. I realized that I know every inch of this facility like the back of my hand.

"How long have you know about this thing?" Tali asks.

"About thirty seconds." I answer and can only guess at her facial expression.

"What? Do you even know where you're going?" she asked. I suppose it's a valid question.

"Yeah I realized back there that I have the blueprints to this facility memorized. Odd thing is, I have never been in any of these hallways, and don't remember looking at any blueprints."

"That makes no sense!" she adds.

"I know! It's like the information was just put there or something." Holstering our weapons we continue down the shaft as I navigate and she argues. Finally we reach an access panel leading outside.

"There could be geth out there by now. We should be careful." Tali points out.

"Good point." We both draw pistols and carefully open the door.

"I see the ship." Tali says.

"Let's go." I take a step forward just for a bullet to fly right past my head.

"You almost got shot!" Really? I never would have guessed. Well enough with the inner monologue

"Thank you, captain obvious!" I aim my pistol and introduce the geth that shot at me to my friend Mr. Bullet.

Tali then shoots out the optics of another before releasing her combat drone.

"Go for the optics, Chiktikka!" Okay not going to question that.

"Go for the optics Mr. Bullet!" I yell jokingly as I shoot a geth in the head. Tali then gives me a death glare that causes me to bust out laughing as we continue to fight.

As we break through the first group I see a squad of quarian marines surrounded by geth.

"Bosh'tet's! They need help." Tali yells as we take out the two geth closest to us, and 'Chiktikka' kills a third. I then see a marine take a hit to the shoulder. Though he is quickly taken care of by another marine, and the two of us turn the tide as the last of the geth are taken down. We all jump onto the transport, and I am relieved that it is over. That is until I turn to see five guns pointing straight at me.

"Uh, Keelah se'lai." I say with my hands in the air hoping they won't kill me. I'd rather not die. I'm too young to die. Seriously as far as I know I might have been born today.

"Praza stand down!" Tali yells. Thank god she doesn't want to kill me, because it would seem the rest of the quarians do. I really hope she's in command though.

"I accept your surrender." I say as I smile like an idiot. Tali gives me a look that I can't even imagine, and the other quarians don't know what to think. "That was a joke." Though I don't know who I am, apparently I'm quite the clown. That's probably going to get me killed one day. Hell maybe today.

"Who is this human Tali'Zorah?" Praza asks in a frustrated tone.

"I found him in the facility. It's thanks to him that I survived. We think he was a test subject." Tali explains.

"You think?" He growls. Now he's getting upset. Praza asks a lot of questions for a soldier.

"I have no memory. I've taken the name Jacob Terminus, but I don't know my true identity." A good explanation if I do say so myself.

"He also saved my life." Thankfully she decided to leave out the fact that I also held a knife to her throat. "At any rate we have to contact the flotilla and inform them of what happened." "Until then everyone should get some rest."

"Sounds good." For some reason I am very tired. Even though I woke up less than an hour ago I feel exhausted. At any rate I sit against the wall and get some shuteye. "Good night everyone." As I close my eyes something tells me I'm not going to sleep well.

* * *

**There you have it. If you have any questions, cares, or concerns please leave a review. **

**P.S. I would like to thank Gray Spectre Warden Boom, and FlurryOfStrife for there help on this first chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2 Unanswered Questions

**Now chapter two of Jacob Terminus's story.**

**I was going to wait until saturday to upload this but i got impatient. **

**I would like to thank all the people who reviewed chapter one. I'v hidden two references in this chapter, so the first person to tell me what the are, and what they're from will be mentioned in next chapters notes **

**Enjoy.**

**P.S. the italics are dream sequences.**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 2

Unanswered Questions

_The horizon shows the fires of burning cities. People of all different species run as their worlds crumble. Giant machines come down from the sky and begin to fire upon anyone and everyone in their path. The smell of burnt flesh fills the air. I look in time to see a little girl get crushed beneath the merciless invaders. Screams can be heard from every direction, but are soon drowned out by the most horrifying and defining noise one could possibly imagine. All this carnage, all this death, and only one word echoes through my mind._

"Reapers." I say quietly as I wake up from this terrible nightmare. What the hell was that?

"You say something?" one of the quarians asks. She's female, with a red suit and dark blue mask. Looks to be a bit taller than Tali but it's hard to tell because she's sitting down.

"No, nothing important. How long have I been out?" I ask curiously. I might as well know so I can start to get my bearings.

"About two hours, give or take." Odd only two hours of sleep, and I feel completely rested. I look around and see eight quarians. Four are sitting on the benches sleeping, I think. The one who was shot is laying in some kind of stretcher on the floor next to the one I just talked to. One is in the pilot seat and Tali is… sleeping right next to me with her head on my shoulder. Well then that's unexpected. I don't mind, it just took me by surprise.

"How long has she been there?" I ask my new acquaintance.

"About an hour. She must feel comfortable around you for some reason." She says. I think about this for a minute and reply.

"Yeah, odd." I look at Tali and can hear her quietly breathe as she sleeps. Then I realize I don't know who the person I'm talking to is, so now curiosity kicks in. "So what's your name?"

"Shala'Nara vas Neema." She answers

"Well Shala, it's a pleasure to meet you." I hold out my hand which she then shakes firmly. It's an odd feeling with her only having three fingers, but not unpleasant. "Jacob Terminus, at least that's what I'm going with." I really should have picked a better name, though it's starting to grow on me. "So two questions. One where are we going, and two when will we get there? "

"Illium to refuel, and in about eight hours." I don't know what it is but I find her odd accent and the slight distortion from the suit kind of soothing. That isn't creepy is it? I hope that's not creepy.

"So what's it like in the migrant fleet?" Once again I get curious.

"Crowded mostly. Trying to fit that many people onto ships can be difficult at times." She answers. I get that.

"Understandable." "Any family?" I ask, hoping I'm not prying too much.

"Parents and a son on his pilgrimage. His name's Veetor." Interesting, didn't think she was that old. Though I don't have that much experience with quarians. Well about three hours' worth. And two of those I spent asleep.

"So you're married?" just by the few expressions I can see, I know that I shouldn't have asked.

"He was killed in action about three years ago." She says with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Sorry." I say feeling like a complete ass.

"No it's fine. You had no way of knowing." She responds, but I still feel like an ass.

"So how long have you served as a marine?" I ask to change the subject.

"22 going on 23 years." Damn she really seems younger than she is.

"Wow, you seem a lot younger than you are." I hope that doesn't offend her. That isn't offensive right? "That wasn't offensive was it? I don't mean it to be offensive. I'm talking too much aren't I? Yeah I'm talking too much. I'll shut up now." I ramble on for no reason. Though she starts to laugh so I suppose it's not too much of a problem. That's when Tali wakes up.

"Who's the bosh'tet that won't shut up?" she asks. I would have been offended but I found it funny.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty." She seems confused by the phrase.

"Human saying. Don't think about it too much." I say with a smile on my face. "So do I make a good pillow?" I ask, she still has her head on my shoulder and is a little groggy. That's when she realized where she has been this whole time and jumps back.

"Oh keelah, I'm sorry was I too close!" she asks nervously. But Shala and I both start laughing.

"No you were fine." I answer, and I swear I could see her blush behind the mask. Well I doubt there will be anything to do for the next few hours so I started looking through my Omni-tool. It looks to be a top of the line model.

"Where did you get that?" Tali asks.

"It was in the room with me. No idea who put it there." I start looking through all of the information I took. The file on the geth comes into my view. "Here, this might interest you." I send a copy to Tali's Omni-tool she starts reading through.

"Interesting." She says to no one in particular.

"What is it?" I ask curiously.

"It seems that we were right. They were studying the geth for something, but I'm not sure what." Then all of a sudden a familiar feeling flashes through me. Information showing up out of nowhere.

"They were studying geth tech to make experimental cybernetic implants." I answer almost mechanically. Where is this information coming from?

"I thought you had no memory? How long have you known that?" Shala asks.

"About twenty seconds. It's happened a few times now. Information that I have no way of knowing just sort of appears in my mind. It's almost like it was put there, and I'm not aware of it until I need it." I try to explain, while still trying to figure it out myself.

"Well it saved our lives back at the facility." Tali Chimes in. She has a good point. Though as helpful as it is, it's still aggravating. So I decide to continue to look through the files. There doesn't seem to be anything of use though. Personnel files that could come in handy later on. Then I come across a video.

"What's this?" I ask no one in particular. Tali and Shala position themselves for a better look.

"How's mark one doing?" An older man in the video asked. He has streaks of grey in his hair, and a few wrinkles starting to form on his face. He looks to be I his mid-forties.

"Vitals are stable, No signs of rejection, and his scars are healing nicely." A female scientist answers. She has dirty blond hair, and looks to be late twenties, early thirties, and is rather attractive. Then I realize what room they're in, and my suspicions are proven when she moves to the side and I see myself lying on the operating table.

"Good. After last week's incident with the download he's our only chance of continuing the project." The man says. "Make sure he stays in good condition. There's still three weeks until we wake him up. I don't want any complications."

"Of course director." The scientist replies. "How is the husk project going?" She asks.

"Failed. The subjects went completely out of control, and had to be put down." The director said with frustration in his voice.

"Nelson must not be happy about that. He put a lot of work into those experiments." She said

"I don't think he feels anything right now. He was killed by one of the test subjects." The director said with a slight amount of amusement in his voice. Dick.

"That's too bad. He was a great scientist." She replied.

"You're not going soft on me, are you Sarah?" he asks almost teasingly.

"Of course not sir." She replies.

"Good. Project Vanguard is in its final stages. We can't afford to make any mistakes now." he says as the video cuts out.

"What's Project Vanguard?" Tali asks.

"I think I am." I respond as I soak in what I just saw. I thought back to the blacked out document. What was so important about that thing? Then it hit me. I just found someone who can answer my questions. I quickly go back to the personnel file. I scroll through until I find who I'm looking for. "Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Beck, Nero-scientist, Clearance level A. Enlisted near the end of Project Vanguard to ensure the subject's mind was fully intact and functional."

"What's important about her?" Tali asks.

"She's going to answer some of my questions." I say gaining some hope of finding out who I am. That's when another file catches my eye. "Sovereign."

"What?" Tali exclaims as we look at the title of this new document. I open it, and we are all surprised at what is inside.

"That's not possible." Shala says with obvious disbelief in her voice. What we're looking at are reports about how Ascendency salvaged most of what remained of the reaper.

"Those bosh'tets." Tali says with anger in her voice. "We spend all that time trying to take it down, and they just take it and run experiments on it!" Then it hits me why Tali seemed so familiar.

"Wait I thought there was something familiar about you. You were a part of Shepard's crew."

"Hold on, do you know Shepard?" She asks shocked about my comment.

"I only know of her. What you all did in the fight against Saren is legendary." Though once again I had no recollection of where I got this information. Then I'm left speechless as I read the last sentence in the Sovereign report. 'Analysis on Sovereign complete. Permission to begin Project Vanguard granted.'

"Wait Project Vanguard, but that's…" They both look at me, but I had no idea what to think.

"What do I have to do with Sovereign?" The question echoes through my mind. I know there's some connection between me and the reaper but what could it be.

"Maybe Beck can answer that." Tali says trying to reassure me.

"Yeah maybe. I'll have to start tracking her down when we get to Illium."Still running things through my head I decide to look through the clothing that I found. That's when to my surprise I find a credit chit. Curious I check the amount and once again I'm speechless.

"What is it?" Tali asks as I realize my mouth was wide open, jaw almost hitting the floor.

"When we get to Illium dinner's on me." I say as I show them the chit. Though I can't see either of their faces, I know they had the same reaction as they look at the ten million credits that are on this chit. I think Tali just shit a brick. Our excitement is cut short when the pilot cuts in.

"You realize we still have over seven hours before we get there right?"

**3 hours later**

"God I'm bored." I mutter to myself. I've been bouncing a random ball that I found in a cupboard below the seat I was sitting on, against the adjacent wall for twenty minutes to try to entertain myself. What is with this whole Sovereign thing? As I think about it more and more, I get angrier and angrier, and I throw the ball harder and harder. As I hear the ball hit the wall the noise just makes me angrier. Thud, thud, thud, Thud, THUD, THUD, THUD. The suddenly on the hardest throw yet, the ball is enveloped in a red glow and shoots across the room. It hits the wall with a deafening CRACK, bounces back and hits me square in the forehead.

"OH BOSH'TET!" I yell as I hold my head in pain. "What the fuck was that?" I yell.

"Keelah, that looked like biotics." Tali said shocked.

"Wait aren't biotics supposed to have a blue glow?" Shala asks.

"Oh no I'm fine. Thanks for the concern ladies; I'm sure I don't have a concussion or anything." It doesn't hurt all that much but it's the principle of the thing.

"Oh Jacob are you alright, would you like me to fix your booboo?" Tali asks teasingly.

"Aah fuck you." I say as I laugh and give her the one finger salute. "But in any case it did look like biotics. Just another mystery I suppose." I say as I light up my arm with my red biotics. Then suddenly it spreads all over my body and lifts me into the air. "What the, why, how, screw it get me down from here!" I yell as I float higher. The ladies start laughing, Tali's actually on the floor she is laughing so hard, and the other quarians seem indifferent.

It took me ten minutes but I finally got myself back on the ground just in time for the pilot to ask me. "You know anything about flying ships?" The question took me a little by surprise.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I overheard the whole thing about you knowing things you shouldn't, so I was wondering if you knew anything about flying." Then once again more randomly generated information.

"This ship is running a Capissen 38 eezo core engine with four pulsar propulsion exhausts… I'm surprised we haven't fallen out of the sky yet." I say both barely knowing what I'm talking about, and perfectly understanding it.

"Well then, you mind taking the wheel for a bit?" He asks thoroughly impressed.

"Sure why not." I answer as I get up and replace him in the pilot's seat.

**4 ½ hours later**

After what has got to be the longest, and most boring, game of I Spy ever with Tali, we finally begin our approach towards Illium.

"I'll take over from here." Tali says as she shoo's me away from the pilot's seat. As we get closer to the planet a voice hales us over the radio. Just customs asking for our information, I don't really care enough to pay attention. "Just here to refuel and pick up supplies." Tali responds to the unnamed voice with a frustrated tone. They must be giving her a hard time because they're Quarians. "Bosh'tet." Tali says as the call is ended.

"You got that right. I don't remember anything, but I do know that I hate racist bullshit like that." I say.

"That reminds me. Why the indifference about us not being human?" she asks.

"Well seeing that I don't have any experience with anyone else, I don't really have anything against you. Though you did point a shotgun at me." I say with a small chuckle.

"Well you held a knife to my neck." She responds and we both start laughing.

"Touché." As we finally make it to our destination, the two of us sit there quietly as thousands of cars fly past us. The lights of the city seem to be endless, and the buildings seem to be the only thing standing still.

"I never liked Illium. Everyone here just tries to take advantage of each other for some easy money." Tali says.

"Yeah probably not my first choice for a destination either." I respond.

"Well it was the closest place for supplies."

"Then I guess we just have to live with it for now." I say as we approach our landing zone.

"Ok, Jacob and Shala will go with me to pick up supplies. Praza, you and the others will stay here with the ship, and make sure there aren't any problems with the refueling." Tali says as she lands the transport, and Praza does not look happy.

"What? You leave me here and take the human with you? We're not even sure if we can trust him!" Praza yells in protest of the situation. Now he is really getting on my nerves.

"Look, if anything goes wrong with the refueling we're all screwed. Tali is trusting you enough to keep watch over it. Plus if I was planning anything against you I would have done it while half of you we're asleep. So get over your ego and stop arguing with the orders you are given." I call out Praza as he is very close to pissing me off. The door finally opens and I quickly make my way off the ship.

"Thanks for that." Tali says as she steps out.

"No problem, it felt good to bitch him out." I say with a smile.

"Everyone else enjoyed it as well." Shala says. "So about that dinner you promised us."

"Ladies first." I say, and they lead the way. After a ten minute walk, with half the people we see trying to get us to sign some kind of contract, we get to a restaurant that serves both human and Quarian foods. "Get whatever you like." I look through the menu and the first thing that catches my eye is varren steak. "I'll take the varren steak." I say to the asari behind the counter. The girls order some Quarian food that I can't identify, and the food arrives quickly, so we take our seats. Then the smell of the first meal I can remember flows into my nose. The scent of the nicely charred steak causes my mouth to water.

"You know I heard a story about a human on the citadel, who took his asari girlfriend to a fancy restaurant, and ordered the varren steak." Shala said.

"Yeah what happened?" I ask curious.

"He took one bite and had to rush to the bathroom to vomit, plowing through every table in his way." She said laughing.

Without any hesitation I take a bite of my food. "I don't know what was wrong with that idiot. This is delicious!" I say as I begin to tear through the steak.

"Well someone's hungry." Tali says

"I don't remember the last time I ate, literally." The three of us start laughing. I've got to say I like these two. They're my favorite two people. Let's see if that changes when I know more than eight people. At that point we received an unexpected guest. A Salarian in armor walked up to our table.

"Hello My name is Jondum Bau of the special forces and reconnaissance. May I speak with you three in private?"

"Sure what is this about?" I ask as I get up from the table. Luckily, I had just finished my steak. Otherwise I might not have agreed to go.

"I would like to talk to you about the Ascendency Company." Jondum says.

"What about them?" Tali asks.

"Got information that the Quarians were assaulting one of their facilities, tracked the info to your team. I would like to know what you found there. Also if I might ask, it is strange for a Quarian assault team to have a human with them, could you explain this?" he asks in one long breath. Salarians sure can talk fast.

"I have amnesia; can't remember anything and they have been nice enough to help me out." I say answering his question. I left a few things out, but that's because I don't want him to know that I'm involved with Ascendency. I don't know why, but he does seem to be trustworthy. I can tell that he's a good man.

"Odd can you tell me anything else?"

"The facility was being used to study active geth." Tali chimed in.

"That's good Intel; the council will be able to shut them down if you have any proof of this."

"I do. I downloaded most of their files before leaving. I'd be willing to share them with you, for a price." I answer realizing I can use this to my advantage. A spectre could easily track down Beck.

"Name your terms." He replies.

"I'm looking for someone. A scientist named Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Beck. She may have information that I need. It would be a great help if you could use your resources to track her down." I can feel it. I'm close to finding her and one step closer to finding out who I am.

"That's all? No problem; I'll get back to you, shouldn't take long. Meet me at this location in an hour." Well he seems very helpful.

"Thank you, I'll see you there." I say as I shake his hand. Once again, three fingers, weird.

"That went well." I say to the ladies when Jondum left.

"Yeah, maybe a little too well." Shala says with suspicion in her voice.

"I just hope this isn't a trap." Tali says. Okay now I have a bad feeling.

"Well luckily I have you two as back up." I say sarcastically. This causes them both to give me a look, which causes me to start laughing.

**One hour later**

Before leaving for the meeting I went to buy some new armor. The set I found was nice but it didn't really fit well so I got a new set. I also wanted some new weapons so I bought an M-96 Mattock assault rifle, and an M-97 Viper sniper rifle. "Well here's the place." I say as we arrive at the location ten minutes early. I had gotten impatient, so we decided to get there before Jondum.

"You sure you should just hand over the information?" Tali asks.

"Don't worry; I already filtered through the files. I'm leaving out everything about the Reapers." I answer. I trust Jondum, but not that much. I don't want the Council going after me next.

"Looks like we aren't the only ones to get here early." Shala says as she motions towards the spectre approaching.

"Didn't expect you to get here before me." He sys

"I don't like to be late." I respond. This is actually true. The idea of being late seems to bother me. I just keep learning more and more about myself. "You have the location?" I ask getting down to business.

"Yes, you're in luck she is here on Illium; this city even. Here's the address." He said as he sent the data to my Omni-Tool.

"Thank you. Here's your evidence as promised." I transfer the files to him. Well the ones that I want him to see that is.

"Good this should be enough to shut them down. If you find anything else contact me." He said and held out his hand.

"No problem." I say as I shake his hand. "I'll keep that in mind." He then leaves and I turn to Tali.

"So you want to check this place out." I say as I look at the address.

"Sounds like fun, you in Shala?" She asks in an almost exited tone.

"Wouldn't miss it."

After a twenty minute cab ride we arrive at the location. As I step out of the car I get a bad feeling, and I can tell that the girls have the same feeling. At that moment I see a glint in an open window. "Get down!" I yell as the three of us dive into cover just in time to avoid a bullet.

"Sniper!" Shala yells. At that moment over a dozen mercs pour out from the buildings. What the hell are they doing here? I grab my sniper rifle off my back and I start shooting at the hostiles. That's when I realize a very important fact about myself. I must be the worst sniper ever. 90% of my shots miss, and the other ten are nonlethal. Frustrated I put it away and pull out the mattock.

"Go Chikktikka!" Tali yells, and I can't resist making fun of her.

"Go Mr. Bullet!" I yell and hit an Asari merc in the shoulder. I'm going to pay for that. Then I get hit with a biotic shot. Shrugging it off I send my own biotics back causing multiple hostiles to fly about ten feet back. I think I'm getting a hang of this whole biotic thing. We quickly finish off the rest of the mercs and make our way to the building.

"What's with the mercs?" Shala asks. Good question.

"Don't know let's ask." I open the door and see a room full of mercs pointing guns at us.

"Oh bosh'tet." I say to myself in frustration.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, cares, or concerns please leave a review.**

**Also if you like this story i recomend that you read Odyssey 2183 by Gray Spectre Warden Boom. **

**Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3 Mark One

**I've been getting some concerns about my character being too powerful. I just want to let everyone know that in the beginning **it is going to seem like he is.

**But don't worry, this will balance itself out soon. **

**Enjoy chapter 3**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 3

Mark One

The door opens to a room with eight mercs, guns ready. My reflexes kick in and I throw up a biotic barrier just as they start to shoot. Well didn't know I could do that. As the bullets bounce off the barrier, I lower it just long enough to pull out my pistol and take out all of them with a single, lightning fast, shot each. Holy shit! How the hell did I do that?

"What was that?" Tali yells just as surprised as I am.

"I have no idea. It just happened, almost like I wasn't controlling my body." Damn my reflexes are ridiculous.

"Well however you did it, you saved our asses." Shala says as she checks the bodies to make sure they're dead. I look around and we appear to be in some kind of old office building. The place is small; it might have been for a small business. There's only a single office.

"That must be where Beck is. If she's here that is." Now that I think about it she might not even be here. Damn this might have been for nothing. But I'm relieved when I walk into the office and see a familiar face cowering behind the desk. "Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Beck?" I call out to her.

"Who is it?" She asks frightened. Then she looks over the desk and the expression is undescribable. A strange mix of surprise, astonishment, and fear. "Mark One?" She must be talking about me. She must know something!

"You know me?" I ask hopeful.

"How could you be alive?" She asks while standing up from her hiding place.

"I don't know. I have no memory. I came here hoping that you could answer my questions." I say honestly. I don't think she would try anything against me. She's too scared for that.

"Of course, ask me anything!" She says almost exited. She seems a little too excited, but oh well. I'm not going to give up a chance to get information.

"Why was the facility empty when I woke up?" I think that's a good place to start.

"The Geth drove us out. Some of the scientists where running an experiment and they just went out of control." That makes sense. It would explain the Geth attacking us, but not why they didn't kill me while I was unconscious.

"Then why didn't they kill me?" I ask.

"I don't know. They might not have seen you as a threat." Hm that might be it.

"Why did you call me Mark One? What does that mean?" It's starting to bug me. They referred to me as that in the video as well.

"It's what you were called in the lab. I… I don't know why." She seems to be wondering the same thing right now. I'm guessing she didn't think much about it before. Now for an important question.

"What's Project Vanguard?" I can feel the hairs on my neck standing on end as I wait for her response.

"You are. I don't know the specifics of the project, but I do know that you're the outcome." So we were right, but that still leaves questions.

"What was your job at the facility?" I ask, though I already know.

"I was hired to keep you stable while you were asleep, and make sure that you didn't receive any brain damage from the experiments. In a sense I was there to take care of you." The last part of her answer took me by surprise. She took care of me. Well I can think about that later. Back to business.

"Do you know who I am, my name?" ask though the look on her face tells me everything.

"No. The entire time I was there you were referred to only as Mark One." Damn, though I didn't expect a good answer, I'm still disappointed.

"Well I don't go by Mark One. I've taken the name Jacob Terminus. I found those words on this document. Do you know anything about it?" I ask as I show her the Project Vanguard file.

"No this was well above my pay grade when I worked for the company." Wait, WHEN, she worked for the company.

"What do you mean by when? You don't work for them anymore?" I ask.

"No, I quit after the incident in the facility. I didn't take the job to get shot at. Though they don't take kindly to one of their top scientists leaving. That's why I hired the mercs." Then she got a look in her eyes that tell me that she realized something. "Mark O… I mean Jacob, You might be in danger. If Ascendency finds out you're alive they'll be after you."

"Why? Why am I so important?" I ask trying to get what few answers I can.

"I'm not sure. All I know is the director needed you." The director. He's the man in the video.

"Who's the director?" I ask

"Director Smith. That's what we all knew him as. I don't think that's his real name though. He headed Project Vanguard. He talked about something called the download. It happened right before I got there, and it failed somehow. After that he said your wellbeing was essential to continue the project." My wellbeing. Why? And what 'Download. This isn't making ant sense.

"Why don't I remember anything?" I ask

"I don't know. There's very little about the actual project that I know." Damn she isn't as helpful as I hoped. There's only one more thing to ask.

"What is the connection between Project Vanguard and the Reapers?" I ask hoping and praying for an answer.

"I don't know." She answers solemnly. Damn it! "But I do know one thing about it." She answers. Now she looks even more nervous than before.

"What is it?" I ask desperately, grabbing her arm.

"Not long after I got there I did some… investigating. I was curious about what was so important about you. I did some scans and I found…" What, what is it?

"What did you find?" I ask. I'm so close I can feel it.

"I found implants, but I had never seen anything like them before. I think they were Reaper tech." What? I have Reaper tech in me. Why, what is the purpose. What did they do to me? I look at my arm wondering what the purpose of the reaper implants were. Then I'm snapped out of my head by Tali.

"Jacob we have to go!" I hear her yell. "We've got more hostiles outside." She sounds a bit panicked. There must be a lot of them. I take a quick look out the window and see a four times the number of soldiers as before. There's no way we could take that many.

"You have more mercs?" I ask Sarah. Now I'm a little pissed.

"No you took down all the men I hired!" What then who are?

"These aren't mercs they're soldiers!" Shala yells as a shot flies through a window.

"Shit! It's Ascendency! We have to get out of here!" Sarah yells, as she runs to the left side of the room. "Quick in here." She opens a hidden panel. "It leads to an underground tunnel, Hurry!" The three of us make our way to the opening. I signal three women go ahead of me, and then I quickly climb in. Just as I close the door Sarah seals it, and I hear the door the office break down.

"Why is this here?" I ask. It's odd for an office building to have hidden tunnels. It's kind of cool but that's beside the point.

"Don't know. I think this was part of an old Eclipse base, maybe a front." I suppose that explanation works. We quickly make our way down the tunnel until we come to a door.

"Everyone guns ready. We never know what's out there." I say as I grab the Mattock off my back. I open the door and luckily there's no one on the other side.

"Come on we need to get back to the ship." Tali says.

"What about you Sarah?" I ask wondering what we should do about her.

"I don't know. I can't stay here anymore, that's for sure." Then a thought comes to mind. I activate my Omni-Tool and go through its history until I find the transmission from Jondum. I use it and make a call. Hopefully he's still on Illium.

"Hello?" I hear a Salarian voice say.

"Jondum you there?" I ask

"Yes, What is it Terminus?" He asks.

"I have something that might help your case even more, meet me at our ship." I say hoping he's willing to take Sarah with him.

"What is it?" He asks.

"A witness." I respond. I can almost hear him gasp in shock.

"Sounds good. See you there." He says exited as he hangs up.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asks.

"I'm sending you with a Spectre. You testify against Ascendency in exchange for protection. Deal?" She looks worried but she nods in agreement.

"Deal." She says.

We hail a cab to take us back to the ship and find Jondum there waiting for us.

"You're late, this the witness?" He asks motioning towards Sarah.

"Yes this is the scientist I had you track down. Ascendency is after her. She'll help you bring them down in exchange for protection." I answer. I hope he goes for it. Though him saying I was late bothers me.

"Agreed. Now I owe you. If you ever need anything contact me on the Citadel." That sounds good. Having a Spectre in my debt. That sounds really good. I turn to Sarah.

"You should be safe now." I say to Sarah.

"How can I ever repay you?" She asks grateful.

"Just take those bastards at Ascendency down." I say as I hold out my hand.

"Will do." She says and shakes my hand.

"Good come with me please." Jondum signals her to follow him. "Thank you again for the help Jacob." He holds out his hand and I shake it.

"No problem. I'm sure I'll see you again." I have this odd feeling that I know I'll see him again.

He leaves and I turn to the Ladies. "Well that was interesting. Shall we go inside?" I say as I motion towards the door. As we walk in I see Praza sitting there and he doesn't look happy.

"Where the hell have you been Tali? The refueling finished half an hour ago!" Wow Praza's showing some real concern. Thought I'd never see the day. "We've been waiting to leave this whole time!" Strike that previous statement. He is, in fact, a Dick. I give him a look that I think makes him shit himself and he sits right back down.

"Thank you Jacob. Let's go, everyone get ready for takeoff." Tali says as she says as she sits in the pilot's seat.

"Where are we off to next?" I ask Tali as we buckle in. I sit in the seat next to her.

"We're heading back to the Flotila, but first we have to let them know about you. It's rare for outsiders to enter any of our ships, but you should be fine until the admirals decide what to do." So I get to see the Migrant fleet in person. I suppose I should be honored.

"Sounds interesting, but how will me being on one of your ships work. Will I need a suit or something?" I ask wondering. Now I'm picturing myself in a Quarian exo-suit. My mind goes to strange places.

"No the armor you have with the helmet on should do. We'll have to get this transport sanitized as well." Hm sanitized.

"How's that going to work?" I ask.

"All of our transports have a decontamination program. Once we get to a certain distance from the fleet you'll have to suit up." Great so I'll have to wear the helmet for a while. I really shouldn't complain seeing that Quarians have to wear them their entire life, but what can I say.

"So how long will it take to get there?" I ask

"About three days." Oh only three days… WHAT!

"Three days?" And I was complaining about an eight hour trip.

"Yeah, we have to go through multiple systems to get to the fleets current location." Well won't this be fun.

"Hold on what am I going to eat?" I ask. Now I'm a bit worried. I'd rather not go three days without food.

"Don't worry we picked up a weeks' worth of levo food back on Illium." That's good. I would not have been happy if I didn't get food.

"Well I suppose my complaining won't make us go any faster." I say as we break through the atmosphere.

"Yeah if it did we'd probably be there by now." She said jokingly.

"You know I'm not afraid to hit a woman." I say in a mock threatening tone.

"I have a shotgun." She says in a serious tone. We look at each other for a few seconds then we bust out laughing. Then Shala walks up to the pilot's area.

"What's this, you're having fun without me? I fell so betrayed." She says in fake dramatic way. And we all start laughing even more. It really is fun to be around these two. They are my only friends after all.

The three of us spend the next eight hours talking. Nothing important or life changing, just getting to know each other. Shala told us a lot of stories from when she was young. She's kind of a badass. She told us about the battle where she had to take on a Geth Colossus single handedly, and how she got into a fist fight with an Elcor on the Citadel. We didn't believe her at first then she went on the extranet and pulled up the video. It had gone viral soon after it happened, and had billions of views. I only had one question.

"I'm going to regret asking this but, why did you get into a fight with an Elcor?" I ask out of curiosity. This should be good. Then in the most serious tone you could imagine she says.

"Because he was hitting on me." Yeah I regret asking. After a 30 second pause where me and Tali try to fathom how this might have happened, the three of us bust out laughing to the point where we can barely breathe.

"What did he say?" I ask trying to hold back the laughter. Then in what has to be the perfect Elcor impression she says.

"Seductively, that suit looks uncomfortable, would you like me to take it off for you." And the laughing continues.

After about twenty minutes we finally recover. Then Tali starts telling us about her time in Shepard's crew. Her stories are amazing. Though she is still young, she has seen and experienced so much battle. From her hardships on the Citadel, to actually being there during the final confrontation with Saren. She saw the former spectre kill himself right in front of her eyes. Then she starts telling us about Virmire. About the seemingly endless supply of Geth, the loss of Kaidan Alenko, and the thing that really gets my attention. Their conversation with Sovereign.

"You actually talked to a reaper?" I ask.

"Yeah it was an odd experience. It had such a threatening presence. Even though it was just a halo display, it was almost terrifying." Sovereign. The files, the experiments, the implants. I've barely been awake for a day and all my searching leads only to that damn dead reaper. Where can I find the answers I need? There's only one person I know of that will have the answers. The Director, But I don't even have his real name. Ugh, maybe the Alliance would be willing to help. Ascendency is a human organization after all. Though I don't know how they would react to the reaper tech. Well I'll figure that out later, for now I just have to hope the Quarians don't send me out an airlock.

"I'm gonna take a nap." I say as I lay back in the co-pilot's seat. I'm not tired in the least, but I fell like taking a rest. Though I have a familiar feeling that I'm not going to sleep well.

* * *

**And there you have it.**

**I've been writing quite a lot so i plan on taking a few days off before starting the next chapter.**

**Don't worry though, i'll have it out within a week**

**Until next time. **


	4. Chapter 4 Fight for your life

Well i can't come up with any witty banter at the moment so enjoy chapter 4

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 4

Fight for your life

_I hear screams as people are dragged from their home. I look to see a field of statues, only to realize that they are alive. Frozen in place, helpless against the invaders who methodically place them in coffin like structures. Sealed away, they are free to move, only to struggle for escape. Their muffled screams seem as loud as a gunshot. The abductors stand there, menacing. They move towards me and I cannot move. They take me, their hands cold and hard. I can feel myself about to vomit from the scent. As they seal me in the only thing that goes through my mind, is total fear._

My eyes open and I shoot up. I'm relieved that I can move, and I relax back into my seat.

"You ok?" Tali asks, still in the pilot's seat.

"Yeah just an interesting dream." I answer. This one is different from the last. It was up close, while the other one I saw from a distance. Why is it that I can't seem to get a good rest? "How long was I out?"

"About an hour." Really? Once again I'm completely rested. I can't be sure but maybe something about the experiment makes it so I don't need as much sleep. Oh well, I'll figure that out later. Well there's still over two and a half days until we get to the flotilla so I might as well start a conversation.

"So you told me about your time with Shepard, but you never actually told me about Shepard." I'm curious what the person who is credited for saving the galaxy was like.

"Well to make a long story short, she was amazing. You put her in any tough situation and she'd make it look easy." Sounds impressive. "She was one hell of a soldier, and a great commander. She always enjoyed socializing with the crew." Then her expression took a hint of sadness. Her shoulders drop, her head hangs forward, and she has a bit of a grim tone. "She was a good friend."

"It must have been tough when she died." I can't imagine what Tali went through. I've never had to go through the tragedy of losing a friend.

"Yeah it was a year and a half ago, but it's still difficult at times." Well I can tell that this conversation isn't going anywhere good, so I'll change the subject.

"What about the rest of the crew, any other friends of note." I ask hoping to cheer her up.

"Of course, Garrrus was always a good friend. Wrex as well, when he wasn't trying to kil…" That sentence will have to be put on hold. Right before our eyes we see a massive dreadnaught emerge from the relay we were about to go through, and it's heading straight for us. Tali jerks us to the side to avoid a head on collision. As I check to make sure everyone is alright I realize that Tali isn't moving.

"Tali what is it? Are you okay?" She seems to be in shock.

"That ship. I…It's the ship that attacked the Normandy." What? We just happened to run into it out here.

"Where is it heading? Tali where is it heading?" I snap her out of her trance. She looks at her screen.

"It looks like their heading straight for a human colony." Crap I have a bad feeling about this.

"We have to get there now. If that thing attacks those colonists they won't have a chance." Then it seems that decision was made for us as the ship turns back towards us.

"Shit they're about to open fire!" Shala yells, and then I almost push Tali out of her seat and take the controls. I manage to avoid their first shot, and I make a b-line for the colony. As they take their next shot I maneuver around it, but I'm not able to avoid its full radius.

"Fuck, the drive core is fried. It's overloading!" Luckily the planet is close by. It looks like it'll be an emergency landing for us. "Everyone buckle up, this landing is going to get interesting!"

"Define interesting!" Tali yells as over every alarm this transport has.

"Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die!" I yell in a half joking, half… well half oh god we're going to die voice. Then there's a miracle. The drive core regains functionality just before we hit the atmosphere. But it's not quite enough for us to make a safe landing. I'm just barely able to keep us all alive as we hit the ground.

"Is everyone ok?" Tali asks.

"Just a few bruises back here." Shala answers.

"Other than almost shitting myself, I'm fine." I answer. I get up and open the seal to the transport.

"Damage report." I hear Tali say from inside.

"The drive cores damaged it'll take a while to repair. Other than that it's just comedic damage."

"Okay start the repairs." As I look towards the settlement that I struggled to miss, I see the ship that caused this making its landing.

"I'm going." I say as I turn back to the transport, grab my weapons, and some medi-gel packs.

"What? Are you insane?" Tali asks.

"I think so. I have to help them. I can't just let them die." Or worse.

"I'll go with you." Shala says reaching for her weapons.

"No, you need to stay here and make sure everyone else is safe." That's when Praza steps in.

"He's right; let him go on his suicide run." For once I agree with Praza… well for the most part.

"I can't let you do this Jacob." Tali says with obvious worry in her voice.

"You don't have a choice in the matter." Then I take off running. I know none of them can follow me. At a speed that has to be equal to an Olympic sprinter, I make it to the outskirts of the settlement within minutes. I pull out my Mattock and start moving slower, catching my breath.

"Time to get down to business." I say to myself. Then I see a sight that stops me cold. A field of statues, but I know what they really are. "What the fuck." I say slowly as the dream flashes back into my mind. How is this possible. Damn I don't have time for this. I check the person closest to me. Her eyes are still moving. They're still aware of what's happening. "Don't worry, I'm here to help." I say as I leave looking for the invaders.

Then what seems to be a swarm of insects starts flying towards me. "Shit." I say as I put my arms up to defend myself. But to my surprise nothing happens. They just fly right past me for some reason. Not that I mind, but what the hell.

"What am I not important enough for you?" I yell at the swarm. Ok enough joking around. I move closer to the center of the settlement, and see more and more people frozen in place. Covered in those strange insects. "Who could be doing this?" I ask the air, and my question is answered as I turn a corner and see the culprits. I quickly move back and take cover. "Ok they didn't see me."

"Were those Collectors?" More random information shows up, but not much. There's not much known about them to begin with. "Well time to say hello." I turn around the corner quickly and fire off a powerful biotic shot. There are six of them. Two were sent flying by the biotics; the others turn and start shooting at me. I leap behind a crate to the left of me and fire back periodically, until they go down.

I reload my gun and pick up more clips that the collectors dropped. Then I make my way towards the ship. Another group turns a corner and I reflexively take them out before they had time to react. That's when I walk into the center of the settlement. "Holy shit!" I yell as I dive into cover. There's a god damn army here. "Bosh'tets!" I yell as I emerge from cover and start shooting. I take out a few of them and the rest start firing. Shit this isn't good.

I put up a barrier and run behind a different crate, firing a biotic shot just before getting into cover. The explosion from the shot takes out a few of them, but there are hundreds. I lean out of cover to shoot, and take a round to the left shoulder. "Fuck!" I fall back and quickly apply medi-gel. Shit I can't use the mattock without that arm. I pull out my phalanx, and start firing on them again.

Then I hear a deep menacing voice from inside of the crowd. "Assuming direct control." I look to see one of the collectors with a strange glow throughout its body. "You cannot stop the inevitable."

"Maybe not but I can stop you!" I yell as I unload a full clip into him. Then he shots some kind of biotic blast that sends me on my ass. I could feel my ribs crack from the impact. I stand and throw up another biotic barrier as they start shooting again. That's not going to hold long. Then they run up point blank. Great it looks like it's going to be hand to hand.

I hit the closest one in the head with my pistol. I then start what can only be described as gun-fu, as I alternate between hand to hand melee and shooting them point blank. My reflexes kick in unlike anything that I've experienced so far, but I'm still struggling. I continue fighting through the pain of my injuries, but then I suddenly feel an explosion in my hand as one of them shoots my weapon. That's when things turn for the worse.

A constant barrage of hits from the collectors sends me to the ground. I can't move, pain fills my body. I start to see double, and the one from before walks up and looks down to me on the ground. "Your resistance is futile. We are your saviors through destruction."

"Fuck you." That's the only thing I can say as the pain continues to spread throughout my body. Two of them grab me by the arms and start dragging me. I yelp in pain as they pull my wounded shoulder. I'm able to look behind me and see that they're dragging me to some kind of pod. The last part of my dream flashes through my head. I struggle to get away, but there's nothing I can do. They're going to take me, put me in this thing, and I'm helpless.

As I start to give up I hear a gunshot, and one of my arms is released, then the other. I look up to see a Quarian drop ship with shala leaning out holding a rocket launcher. She then proceeds to open fire on the collectors. God she is suck a badass. Five Quarian vessels drop down and engage the collectors, Tali and shala run to me firing at the group.

The grab my upper arms and drag me to the drop ship. As they lay me onto the floor of the ship I can hear Tali ask. "Jacob can you hear me?"

"What took you so long?" I say with a smile.

"Oh you bosh'tet. You ever do that again and I'll shoot you myself." Tali says with authority.

"understood." I say weakly.

"We have to treat your wound." She says

"Nonsense. It's only a flesh wound." I look at the gunshot on my shoulder. "Never mind, that looks like shit. You should really get started on that." I say trying and reassure her, but I'm far from okay. My entire body is in pain, I'm covered in blood from the profuse bleeding of the gunshot, and I know I must have a few broken bones somewhere.

She starts to treat the wound as we take off. I feel the pain lessen as I slowly lose conciseness.

I hear muffled voices over a long period of time. Finally I can feel myself start to stir. I regain conciseness and see that I'm in some kind of hospital room. I look down to see IV's sticking out of my arm.

"This is oddly familiar." I say to myself.

"So you're finally awake." I hear a woman say. Must be my doctor. I look and she's an older woman with a head of grey hair.

"Yep, you my doctor?" I ask.

"Yes, Dr. Karin Chakwas. You're at a medical facility on Mars." Now I'm kind of confused.

"How did I end up in a human hospital?" I ask.

"The Quarians weren't properly equipped to take care of a human patient, so they contacted the Alliance." Well I suppose I can't blame them, but I was hoping to avoid the alliance for a while. Oh well, nothing can be done about it now.

"How long was I out?" I ask.

"A week." She replies. Damn that's the most sleep I've ever gotten. That I know of.

"So, what's the damage?" I ask curious about my injuries. I still feel like shit.

"Gunshot to the left shoulder, nearly shattering the joint. Three cracked ribs, along with internal bleeding. As well as multiple bruises, contusions, and you almost blew your hand off."

"Fun times." I say and we both laugh. "Ow, hurts to laugh." This got yet another chuckle out of the doctor.

"There will be significant scarring on your right hand. The blast tore through most of the flesh, and straight into the implants you have. Though it should heal rather well, those implants will be showing from now on." She says. Damn no wonder my hand hurts like hell.

"Any advice on that?" I ask. I don't want the implants showing only because they would be conspicuous.

"My personal prescription. Gloves, that's about all I can advise." She says with a chuckle. Great I got a doctor with a sense of humor. I like that. "Though you should have full use of it in a couple of weeks." That's good, I wouldn't want my dominant hand to be useless for too long.

"How are my friends, they here?" I ask wondering if they went back to the fleet.

"Yes, and it' been a challenge to get them out of this room. Tali is reporting to the Migrant Fleet as we speak." And as if on cue Tali walks into the room.

"Jacob you're awake." She says relieved, as she walks over and hugs me gently. Shala walks in after.

"So you're alive. Praza owes me twenty credits." She says with a laugh.

"Well it's good to know you were worried about me Shala." I say with a smile.

"Well of course we were worried about you, you bosh'tet!" That's when I notice someone else enter the room.

"Ah I figured the commotion meant you were awake." This new person is female, obviously military with dark hair put up looking professional.

"Oh Ashley, when did you get back?" Tali asks. She obviously knows this person, and then it hits me. Ashley Williams, she was part of Shepard's crew.

"Just now. I was curious what all the ruckus was about." Then she turns to me. "Operations Chief Ashley Williams."

"Jacob Terminus, I'd shake your hand but I don't currently have one available." I say. One is I a sling, and the other is bandaged to the point that you can barely tell it's a hand.

"Good to meet you. So I heard you almost got yourself killed." She says in a smug tone. Ok I have to make a joke now.

"Well you see, what happened is, I burst in on the intruders taking them by surprise. They counter attacked of course, but they were no match for my awesome power. I quickly killed most of them, and accepted their surrender. Then, as they bowed before me, one of them shot me as I was showing them mercy, clearly a sneak attack, not my fault. Then they took the advantage and placed a well-aimed shot on my gun, taking me again by surprise. I fought back for a while with just my legs, but they still had an army, and I couldn't keep it up." I say all of this in a fake manly tone. I look to see all four of the women giving me a look that can only be translated into 'You're an idiot.' I started laughing, it hurt like hell.

"More like you rushed in, ended up well over your head, and had to be saved by two women." Shala said with a laugh. She has a point.

"Well it's not like you didn't have help. That reminds me, where did all the drop ships come from?" I ask trying to figure it out myself. All I can think of is that Tali made them out of rocks and branches. I don't think that's it.

"We got lucky. One of our ships was going to drop off a kid starting his pilgrimage. They were able to give us the help we needed." Tali answers. That makes much more sense.

"Lucky us, well me. You two were fine where you were." I say.

"Well down to business. Jacob, Councilor Anderson would like to speak with you." Seriously?

"The councilor? About what?" I ask. What would he want with me? Maybe Tali told them everything. Well I'll just have to find out.

"Not sure. We have a communication room set up. That is if we can move him." She points the last part at Chakwas.

"As long as you're gentle. He'll need a wheelchair. I'll go get you one."

About ten minutes later, I'm being wheeled into the so called communications room by Tali. Ashley opens up a channel, and Anderson shows up in holographic form. "You must be the man I've been hearing about." He says. I can tell that he's been in the military all his life. He has a kind of aura of authority.

"Apparently so. Jacob Terminus at your service." I give a salute even with the heap of bandages.

"Good, I may need your services." Now that has me curious.

"For what may I ask?"

"It's not definite weather or not you're needed yet, but there's a job that has to be done."

"Where's this job?" I ask curiously.

"Omega." Well this should be interesting.

* * *

**There you have it.**

**There were concerns about Jacob being to powerful, so i decided to beat the crap out of him. **

**I'm not going to spoil anything, but i will say that Omega is going to be a major point in the story. **

**If you want to find out how, you'll have to keep reading.**

**In closing i'd once again like to thank Gray Spectre Warden Boom, and FlurryofStrife for all of their support. **

**Check out booms Odyssey 2183, and Flurries upcoming story.**

**Untill next time, StrifeOkami signing out.**


	5. Chapter 5 Changes

**This chapter took me a lot longer to write than the others. I really had to think about what to put in. Though i think it benefited from it in the end.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 5

Changes

I spend the next two weeks restless in bed. Still barely able to walk from the fight with the collectors, there wasn't much to do. Anderson briefed me on the upcoming mission. Apparently Sarah did well. With her information they were able to hack Ascendency transmissions, and discover that a meeting was being held in one month, on Omega. It will be attended by top level Ascendency operatives, and the director.

A sort of task force was being put together in order to infiltrate the meeting, and capture those attending. Due to my involvement, and abilities, I was chosen as a possible candidate for the job. Though until they decide, there's not much to do but sit here and recover.

So with nothing else to do, I tried listening to music. The music nowadays is ok, but anyone with a computer can make it. I found that older music was more to my liking. Much older. One band that caught my attention is well over 200 years old, and was called Queen. Their music seemed to calm me down.

Tali and Shala got leave to stay with me for a while. I'm glad; I honestly wouldn't know what to do without the two of them. I'm never going to tell Shala that though. She'd never let me forget it. Then finally after two weeks the doctor took me off of bed rest. She was amazed at how quickly I had recovered. Apparently along with my lightning reflexes, I've been blessed with mild regenerative abilities. Nowhere near that of a Krogans, but above human standards.

There was still over two weeks left until the meeting, so I took this time to train in preparation. Among the live fire testing, and weightlifting that the Alliance trainer put me through. I decided that hand to hand training would be helpful. The first person to volunteer as my opponent was Shala.

"I'm not going to hold back you know." I say as I take my stance. Now I'm 6' and weigh 200 pounds. She is 5'6" and 140 pounds. I'm not worried too much about it, her being a soldier most of her life, but still.

"Oh I don't expect you to." She says in a smug tone. Ok she's getting it. I move in and send a quick left jab. She ducks out of the way and sends three faster jabs into my ribs.

"Nice but it'll take more than that." I say as I feign a left hook. She falls for it and takes a quick body blow, nowhere near as strong as I can hit though.

"Nice yourself. Time to get serious." She says as she bobs back and forth. Okay then, you want serious. The next five minutes or so is just the two of us constantly countering each other. She deflects most of my hits, and my reflexes allow me to duck away from hers. I've got to admit I underestimated her. We're stuck there at a standstill. Neither of us can take the upper hand. It's obvious that we are equally matched. That is until…

"So, are you done warming up?" She asks. I think she's joking at first, then I realize the tone she had meant she wasn't. Seriously, this has been a warm up for her. She's bluffing. I go for a big right punch, and realize how wrong I was as she grabs my wrist and sends me flying through the air. I roll to the right avoiding a fist going straight to my face. What comes next can only be described as relentless. Easily dominating the fight, she finishes by knocking me to the ground and grabbing my collar with her fist in the air, ready to strike.

"You done yet?"

"Well if you want to give up, be my guest." She then proceeds to punch me right in-between the eyes so hard that I can't see straight for a moment.

"Ow! You punched me in the face!" I yell as I grab my face.

"That was fun, let's do it again sometime." God she is such a badass.

"Okay, we'll call it a draw." I say as I start to get up, and I'm rewarded with a boot the cheek.

"What the fuck! You kicked me." Everyone in the room, being us, Tali, Ashley, and three random soldiers start laughing. I got up in time for another soldier to walk in and go to Ash.

"Ma'am, Admiral Hackett is due in an hour." He said as he saluted.

"Rodger, we have to get ready. Jacob follow me." Well this should be interesting.

"Yes ma'am." I say as I follow her. "What's this about?"

"Hackett wants to speak with you, Tali, and Shala when he arrives." She answers. Why does someone like Hackett want to talk with me? This must be about the operation.

"Why does he want to talk with me?" I ask as we walk down the hall.

"I'd imagine it's about the upcoming mission. The three of you are candidates to join up, and it's been looking good, what you three have done has been spreading through Alliance channels like wildfire." She says as she walks away.

"Understood." I respond. Another interesting occurrence. Not only have I spoken to the human councilor, but now the head of the whole damn Alliance navy wants to speak to me. Well I suppose I shouldn't just stand here like an idiot. I head to my quarters, and hop in the shower. I don't actually hop, that would be dangerous, but you know what I mean.

About ten minutes later I get out, and change into cloths that Tali took me to get while I was in a wheelchair. It was just a plain black shirt, and pants. Just like the outfit I had before. As well as a pair of gloves with the fingers cut off, that I picked out, to hide the scars on my hand. Then I walk out of the bathroom drying my hair. It goes well past my shoulders, and is thick. Apparently the scientists didn't think it was worth the time to cut it. Oh well, I don't really care either way. Though it is rather unkempt. I'll probably want to get it trimmed before talking to Hackett.

Just as I was about to go do that, I open the door and crash into Tali who was about to walk in.

"Bosh'tet." I hear her say as she hits the ground. We collided into each other, but I stayed standing, due to the weight difference.

"Sorry about that." I say with a chuckle as I help her up. "So did you need me?"

"Just came to talk."

"Well I suppose a head on collision is a good way to break the ice." I say and we both laugh. "Think you can walk and talk at the same time." I should know she pushed me everywhere the full week that I had to be in a wheelchair. She was worried the entire time. I wouldn't doubt it if she still was. Hell she was the only thing that kept me sane during that time.

"Sure, where are we going?" She asks. I don't know why, but I love her voice. It's very soft, with her accent. I just wish I could hear it without the distortion. I never get tired of talking to Tali for that reason.

"I need a haircut." I say as I motion to my still damp hair.

"Keelah, it took you long enough to realize that." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh shut up." I say jokingly, and we both laugh as we start walking down the hall. I tell her about the upcoming conversation with Hackett.

"Really? I've never met him, but Shepard talked about him a few times." Then we got to the military base's equivalent of a barber shop. I walk up to the desk.

"Hello can I help you?" The man behind the desk asks in a deep gruff voice.

"Here for a haircut." I answer.

"Well we've got our work cut out for us." He says with a chuckle. "Jill, front and center!" He yells to the back. A woman, in uniform walks up and stands at attention.

"You called sir." She says with a southern accent. He obviously outranks her.

"I've got a customer for you. Civilian, by the looks." He responds motioning towards me.

"Follow me sir." Jill says motioning towards the back. "Sit here." She points to the closest chair. "So how would you like it?" She asks. I notice Tali leaning against the wall.

"Short but not buzzed." She starts cutting, and my mind goes other places. My hair was ruff and dirty. Just like I have been since I woke up. Everything from fighting to talking has been that way, and I paid for that. As these lock of hair fall off my head I realize that I have to change in order to survive. In order to find the answers I'm looking for I need to get stronger.

It's time for a clean slate. I have to improve my fighting skills, and everything else. Tomorrow I'm going to have to start biotic lessons. That is one area where I still have trouble. I have some power, but not much control. Then I think to my match with Shala.

Damn she was so precise. She could read my movements and use them against me. I've spent all this time relying on my reflexes. They've saved my life on multiple occasions, but they're not enough. I need to sharpen my skills if I want to get anywhere near her level.

That fight against the Collectors has really opened my eyes. I'm reckless. I got lucky when Tali and Shala saved me. It's time for that to change, and this conversation with Hackett will be the start of it.

"Well we're done with that." Jill says snapping me out of my head. I look in the mirror. I don't look anything like I did before. Though I think it's a good thing.

"Looking good." Tali says

"Thanks. You think you can do something about this beard?" I ask Jill.

"You want it shaved?" She says in her southern accent.

"No just trimmed."

"I can do that." It only takes a few minutes, and it's done.

"Thank you." I say as I get up.

"No problem." She says, and gets back to whatever she was doing before we got here. We leave and head for the conference room. It's still a half hour before Hackett arrives, but I prefer being early.

"So the haircut really looks ok?" I ask Tali. I only ever had my hair the other way so I'm not really sure how it is.

"Of course. It looks great." We enter the communications room, and see Ashley there, organizing the preparations. Well organized isn't really the word for it. Everyone is running around like the base is under assault. She turns and sees us walk in.

"Tali, Ja… Jacob?" She asks confused.

"It's me." I say with a smile. I can tell the only reason she knows it's me is the fact that Tali's with me.

"I like the new haircut. Why are you here so early?" She asks.

"I tend to get impatient, so I decided to wait in here." I answer.

"Well you don't have to wait long. We just got word that Hackett's ship is early. He'll be here in ten minutes."

"Well then, I suppose it's a good thing I got here early." I say with a slight laugh.

"We need Shala here as well." Ashley says.

"Oh then I'll go get her." Tali says as she leaves the room. I then stand against a wall out of everyone's way. Then I look down at what I'm wearing.

"The way I'm dressed isn't going to be a problem is it?" I ask Ashley. It seems a little too casual for a meeting with an admiral.

"No you're fine. As a civilian you aren't expected to be in uniform or anything like that." She answers. That's good. I don't know why, but I want this meeting to go well. This mission could lead to the answers I'm looking for. Tali and Shala walk in a couple of minutes later. Shala then looks directly at me.

"Where's Jacob? I thought he was here already." She says confused. Ashley, Tali, and I look at each other for a moment and we all start laughing.

"Shala I'm right here." I say in-between laughing fits. I can almost see the look of embarrassment through her mask.

"What, did I punch the hair right off of your head or something?" She says gloating about her victory. I'm never going to hear the end of this. She'll brag about it on her death bed.

"Oh I was holding back. I didn't want to harm your fragile frame." I respond. Though it's a lie. I seriously gave it my all in that fight.

"Oh whatever you say. I'm always up for a rematch." Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into now?

"Operations Chief, The admiral is arriving as we speak." A soldier says to Ashley.

"Shit, okay everyone in their places!" She orders, and everyone stands at attention. The girls and I stand in the back of the room, out of the way. Then not even a minute later the door opens. The man that walks into the room is old, at least in his fifties. He has grey facial hair, and a large scar from the right side of his upper lip, to a half inch right of his eye. I can tell just by looking at him that this is Hackett.

All of the Alliance soldiers in the room stand at attention and salute. Even the three of us in the back stand straighter than usual.

"At ease everyone." He says and you can tell he's been through a lot.

"It's an honor to have you Admiral." Ashley says, saluting him again. He salutes back.

"The honor is mine Williams." Then he looks at the three of us. "I take it these are our guests?"

"Yes sir." He walks towards us.

"Admiral Steven Hackett." He says and holds out his hand. Introducing himself.

"Jacob Terminus, sir." I say as I shake his hand.

"Tali'Zorah vas Neema ." Tali says next.

"Shala'Nara vas Neema." We all introduce ourselves and shake his hand.

"Anderson informed me of your situation, and I must say it is an odd one." He says getting right down to business. I told Anderson most of what I've been through. Though I left out my connection to the Reapers. I don't think they would appreciate that too much.

"That it is sir. What specifically did you want to talk to me about?" I ask getting a little anxious.

"I came to request that Miss Zorah be a part of the Omega mission." Her turns to Tali. "The work you did with Shepard way superb, and I would like to ask you to lead one of the assault teams. Miss Nara may accompany you as well. That is if the Migrant fleet would allow it."

"I'll contact them once we're done here." Tali says. I can tell she wants to go. There's a hint of excitement in her voice, and there's no doubt Shala will want to go.

"And Terminus. You've also been chosen to go, under the command of Miss Zorah." Finally I get good news for once. I've been hoping that I would get to go.

"Thank you sir." I say with a little excitement in my voice.

"Also, Mr. Terminus, I'd like to offer you a job as a mercenary working for the Alliance. You'll be running through back channels in order to ovoid arousing suspicion, but you will have some Alliance resources. We'd like to keep this operation as secretive as possible, and hiring someone who isn't in the system is perfect for that." He says, and I like the news. Even if it isn't much, any resources I can get will be helpful.

"I'll accept." I say with excitement in my voice. It isn't much, but if I can work my way up, and get more resources, it will get easier to find the answers I'm looking for. "Thank you sir."

"You're welcome. Dismissed." He says, and I us leave the room with a smile glued to my face. The girls follow me.

"So you're a merc working for the Alliance. That should be interesting." Tali says.

"Yeah let's hope it doesn't go to his head. He'll likely get himself killed." Shala says with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah keep talking. You realize I've saved your life before right?" I say in a jokingly smug tone.

"I had it handled; you just got in my way."

"Sure whatever you say." I answer sarcastically. She proceeds to punch me in the arm. "Ow, what the fuck was that for?" I ask as we all laugh.

"Because I felt like it."

"Well I suppose that works. Wait no it doesn't!" I say.

"Well you're being an idiot." She responds. The two of us argue back and forth as Tali starts laughing.

"Hey. Hey. HEY!" Tali yells getting our attention. Then in unison Shala and I turn to her and yell.

"WHAT!"

"You two are acting like an old married couple." Shala and I look at each other, and turn away, crossing our arms. Then once again in unison we say.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." We both get annoyed by that. "We need to stop saying things in unison. UUGH!" We both say at the same time, while making the same gestures. Tali can barely breath, she is laughing so hard.

"I swear it's like you've known each other all your lives." She says hardly able to get the words out through the laughing.

"Shut up." We once again say at the same time. Then Shala punches me again.

"What the hell?"

"Stop doing that!"

"I'm not doing it on purpose."

"Fine then, I'll be in the gym."

"Fine I'll be in my quarters. It's getting late anyway."

"Fine!"

"Fine!" We both walk in opposite directions with Tali standing there confused. Then we stop, turn around, and walk past each other.

"The Gym is this way." Shala says.

"My quarters are this way." I say. Tali just shrugs her shoulders and follows me.

"Well I'm going to head to the communications room, and check in with the Flotilla. I'll meet you in your room when I'm done." She says as we reach the turn to said communications room.

"Ok, see you then." I say as I continue down the hall. I get into my room, and plop down on the couch. It's a small guest room. About 8 by 8, with just a bed, couch, table, and vid screen. There's also a connecting bathroom, but that's so small it's barely worth mentioning. Though I'm not complaining. In fact I'm getting used to cramped settings.

I sit there for a bit, and start fiddling with my Omni-Tool. Just going through the extra net, looking for something to do. Then I hear someone knock on the door. I open it and Tali's standing there. Damn I must have lost track of time.

"Hey, what did the Fleet say?" I ask as I let her in.

"They gave us permission to go on the mission." She says happily. "They've been trying to keep tabs on Ascendency for a while now. So I've been tasked with retrieving whatever information I can on them."

"Why's the Flotilla so interested in them? Is it because of the Geth experiments?" I ask.

"No there were reports of young Quarians on their pilgrimage disappearing almost overnight. These reports led to Ascendency. Though we're not sure why they would want to kidnap them." She answers.

"Odd, I wonder why they would do that." I say running it through my head. Though I can't think of anything.

"Well that's what I'm supposed to find out. So do you have plans?" She asks.

"No, why?"

"I don't know. I just figured we'd sit here and talk." I can tell that something is bothering her. She seems almost sad about something.

"Everything ok?" I ask concerned.

"Well it's just when Hackett brought up Shepard." Ah, that explains it. She sits down on one side of the couch, and I sit next to her.

"You gonna be ok? I know that's still a touchy subject for you." I say as I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah I'll be fine. It's just… just; she was such a good friend." I can tell she's about to cry. Her voice starts to crack, and she's breathing heavily.

"Hey it'll be ok." I say as I pull her towards me. She hugs me, and begins to cry. I don't even need to see her face to tell that her tears are flowing.

"It's just been so hard for me to keep it together since she died." *sniff* "I feel useless without her." She says in between sobs. I pull her closer to me. She has her head on my shoulder, which would be soaked in tears if it wasn't for the mask.

"Shhh, you're not useless. Hell you're the most capable person I've met."

"I don't think I can handle leading a squad on the mission. I can't even hold it together. I'm so weak."

"You're not weak. It's good to let your emotions out once and a while." I say trying to reassure her. "There's no one better for the job than you."

"You really mean that?" She says as she looks up at me.

"Of course I do. Now it's getting late."

"I'll go then." She says as she gets up.

"Your quarters are on the other end of the facility. Crash here for the night."

"You sure?" she asks.

"Yeah, you can even have the bed." I say as I motion towards said piece of furniture.

"No, I can't do that. I'll take the couch." She says. I can tell she's getting better, but she's still felling it. I stand up and walk the three steps to the bed.

"Well goodnight then." I say as I lay down.

"Goodnight." She says as she lies on the couch. I throw a pillow and blanket at her and laugh.

"Bosh'tet." I laugh even herder.

"Sweet dreams." I say as I pull the covers over myself. As I lay there trying to get to sleep, I can still hear quiet sobs coming from Tail. I hope she'll feel better in the morning. I slowly fall asleep and a familiar, ominous feeling sweeps over me.

* * *

**Well there you have it. I wanted to develop Jacob as a character. As well as his relationship with Tali and Shala.**

**If you have any cares, questions, or concerns, please leave a review. I love it when you review.**

**Also A friend of mine started her own story. So go check out Creedless, by FlurryOfStrife. It's definitely worth reading.**

**Until next time, StrifeOkami signing out.**


	6. Chapter 6 Preparation

**Sorry for this one being a bit late. I was busy ll weekend, and couldn't find time to get to my computer.**

**Enjoy**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 6

Preparation

_The ruins of a barely standing city lay before me. What were once skyscrapers now pale in comparison to the massive piles of bodies that fill the streets. The pain and anguish they experienced can be felt in the air. Their screams can still be heard, though their voices have been cut out. This was no accident, or natural occurrence. It was pure, unadulterated, unfiltered murder. The only thing I can think as I look upon this monstrous sight is…_

"That's what will happen to us." I awake from another of these terrible dreams. They haunt my sleep. I can't go a night without having one. Each is different, but this one is the worst.

The horrid after math of the Reaper attack. The shear despair. The other two shock me out of my sleep. Quick and painless, but this one is different. I wake with sweat running down my face, and fear still gripping me.

Is that what will happen to us? Is this our fate to suffer and die? The dream has distracted me so much that it took me a minute to realize I'm not alone. I look over to see Tali lying right next to me. She has her head on my shoulder, and an arm around my chest. I wasn't expecting that. What Shala said the first time I met her ran through my head. 'She must feel comfortable around you for some reason.' Well that must be true. She must have walked over here in her sleep last night, looking for comfort.

Though I'm taken by surprise I really don't mind. It actually feels good to have someone next to me. Besides, it's going to be hilarious when she wakes up. I laugh quietly to myself, and check the clock next to my bed. It's only 3 A.M. God that's annoying. No matter when I go to bed, I only ever sleep for about four hours. Chakwas thinks that it has something to do with my odd metabolism. That and the dreams are most likely the explanation. Though usually I would get up and watch a movie or something, I can't really do that without waking Tali up.

So I'll just lay here with my thoughts… Ok I'm bored. I can hear Tali breath quietly. I move a little to try and get comfortable, and she nuzzles in closer. Her suit is surprisingly soft. I suppose if you're going to be living in something like that all your life you'd what it to be comfortable. She has her body pressed against mine. Her slender physic and those hips… Ok dirty thoughts. I should probably ignore them. After all she is one of my best friends. It's ok for friends to share a bed right? Screw it; I'll just get some more sleep.

I close my eyes and like always I can quickly feel myself drift asleep. I may not sleep long, but I can when I want to.

I'm woken up by Tali stirring next to me. Oh this should be good. She yawns, stretches, looks at me, and lays right back down.

"Good morning Jacob." After a few seconds she jumps up, looks me right in the eyes, and just about falls out of the bed. "What the hell! I... when... how?" I can't resist laughing as she stumbles with her words.

"Not a clue. I woke up and you were lying there." I say in between laughs.

"What? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because this is hilarious. Seriously, I wish I could have seen the look on your face." I can tell that she's embarrassed.

"I, uh, this isn't a problem is it. I mean I didn't make you feel uncomfortable did I?" She asks obviously feeling awkward. There she goes again, thinking of others before herself. God it's ridiculous how selfless she is.

"No, it's fine. I mean we're friends after all. I don't see a problem with friends sleeping together… That came out wrong; I mean we were asleep, nothing happened. I didn't do anything. I don't think. I'm babbling uncontrollably, aren't I?" She begins to laugh.

"Yes you are. It's like a car crash." We both laugh, still lying on the bed. "So you really have no problem with this whole situation?"

"No not really. You are one of my best friends after all. Plus it felt kind of good to have someone lying next to me. That's not creepy is it?"

"I don't think so. But I think we should get up now. I don't want to know what would happen if Shala walked in right now." She said. And she has a good point. Shala has a tendency to just walk into my room, unannounced.

"Yeah we should probably keep this between ourselves." I answer as the thought of Shala finding out runs through my head. I cringe a little. We would never hear the end of it.

"Agreed." She said as she got up. "I'm going to head back to my room and get ready."

"Ready for what?" I ask curiously.

"Oh yeah, I meant to tell you last night. We have a squad briefing at 8 in the conference room. We'll be meeting the soldiers that will be with us during the mission. As well as going over the plan of attack." She answers. Well that should be interesting.

"Cool, you nervous?" I ask getting out of bed.

"A little. Their lives will be my responsibility. Plus I'm not sure how they will react to a Quarian giving them orders." She answers. It's obvious that she is concerned.

"Well just remember that I'll be there to back you up. Also I don't think they'll have a problem with a hero from the battle against Saren commanding them." I say trying to reassure her.

"I hope you're right. I've got to get going. See you at 8." She says as she walks out. I'm standing by the couch, getting my clothes at this point.

"See ya." I say, and then I walk into the bathroom, and take a shower. I get done quickly, and head over to see the doctor. She has me scheduled for one final checkup before the mission. Just to make sure I've finished recovering. I enter the med station to find her sitting at her desk.

"Ah I see you're early once again." She says when she notices me walk in. I have a habit of getting places at least ten minutes early. I really can't stand the thought of being late. Some of my trainers love it. Though for others it drives them crazy.

"Always." I say with a smile. I like Chakwas. She's a pleasant person. That is when she doesn't have to take a scalpel to you. She can be merciless when it comes to treatments. "This isn't going to involve any cutting is it?"

"No, no, just a couple scans. We have to make sure those implants of yours didn't take any damage. Now let me see that hand of yours." I look at my gloved hand. I haven't gone a day without covering the scars. The gloves are just plain black, cloth, with the fingers cut off half way up. That's the point where the scars end, or at least, where they aren't as bad.

I remove my right glove. The pistol exploding in my hand really caused a lot of damage. The skin is badly deformed, and in places there are even chunks taken out. Though other than not being able to fully straighten it, there aren't any problems accept ascetics. In the places where the scars are the deepest, you can see the implants. They have a sort of blue glow to them.

"Yep, still looks like shit." I say with a laugh. This gets a chuckle out of the doc. She takes my hand and waves her Omni-Tool over the front and back of it.

"Well there doesn't seem to be any major damage to them. Though I would avoid putting too much stress on them if I were you."

"Like a gun blowing up in my hand?" I ask jokingly.

"Among other things." She says with a smile.

"That all you need?" I ask. I plan on getting some breakfast after this. One thing that everyone I've met so far has found out is not to get between me and my food. Shala's the only one to do it successfully, and that's only because she scares me.

"No, now that I think of it, I also have a few vaccinations for you. If you're going to Omega you'll need them." She answers. I sigh and walk over to the table knowing that I'm not getting out of it.

"You're lucky I'm not afraid of needles doc." I say to her as she gets the shot ready. For the last few weeks she's been using me like a pin cushion trying to find out how I'm different from normal humans.

"This is the last one before the mission. I swear." She says with a smile. She pushes the needle into my skin. There's a slight sting, but nothing I can't handle. "Well that's over with. You can go now."

"Thanks doc. I'll see you the next time I end up hurting myself." I say with a laugh. She gives me a glare but eventually laughs as well.

"Just try to keep the other hand intact for me."

"Can do." I say as I walk out the door. I head straight for the mess hall. I've got to get some breakfast, otherwise I'll go insane.

I quickly get there and grab my food. Military chow isn't all that good, but it's edible. That's all I really care about. As I take my seat a soldier walks over with a tray and sits across from me.

"You're Jacob I take it." He asks.

"That I am, and you are?" I ask. I'm not trying to be unfriendly, I just like to know peoples name before I talk to them. He's looks to be about my size, maybe a little smaller. He has bright blue eyes, and short dirty blond hair. I can tell he's relatively young. Maybe mid-twenties.

"Jason White." He says as he holds out his hand.

"Jacob Terminus. It's a pleasure." I say as I shake his hand firmly.

"I've heard quite a bit about you."

"And I know nothing about you." I say jokingly. This gets him to laugh, so I think I'm off to a good start with him.

"Well I've been stationed at Luna Base for the last three months. I'll be on the mission to Omega." Ah so he'll be on the squad. That explains a few things.

"What's your rank?" I ask curiously.

"Lieutenant."

"Well it's good to have you on board."

"I heard that we're going to have a Quarian commanding the mission." This could turn out bad.

"That's right. You'll be meeting her today at the meeting. Is that a problem with you?" I ask. I'm really hoping that they can accept Tali's command. Otherwise this could turn out badly.

"No, no problem at all. After all I heard she's a hero from the battle against Saren." That's a relief. He seems to be tolerant of other species.

"Yeah she told me some amazing stories from back then." I think back to a few of her stories. They really are amazing.

"Well I've got to get going. Also me and the rest of the soldiers on the team are going out drinking tonight. You wanna join in?" He asks. Well that sounds like fun. I've actually never had alcohol before.

"Sure why not. See you at the meeting."

"Yeah see you later." He says as he leaves. I like him so far. It's good to know I'll have another friend to hang out with. I finish up my meal, and head off to the armory.

I got approval from the base C.O., Commander Wallace replace my side arm, so I'm heading over to pick out the new one. I walk in and see the weapons technician doing matainance on a shotgun. His name is Charles Finley, though he prefers Chuck. I can't remember what his rank is. I've had a few conversations with him. Mostly during live fire training and the suck.

"Sir, I got permission from the Commander to pick out a sidearm." I say as I salute.

"Ah yes he told me you would be coming down. I didn't expect you here this early." He says as he salutes me back. "At ease."

"I don't have anything to do until eight, so I figured I'd get this done." I still have about an hour until the meeting.

"Well follow me and you can take your pick." He leads me to a weapons table, and starts placing pistols in front of me. "We have The M-3 Predator. Light weight and easy to use. The M-6 Carnifex. Heavier, with a slower fire rate, but it packs a punch. And finally the M-5 Phalanx. Great at close range, and can compete with assault rifles." He shows me the guns one at a time. Though I'm not sure which one to take.

"Well my last one was a Phalanx, but I've never used the other two." I say as I inspect each weapon.

"Well you said you don't have anything to do. So why not test them all out?" Now this guy knows what he's talking about. I get a smile on my face and say.

"Let's do it." He escorts me and the weapons to the firing range. I go through just about every live fire test the Alliance has with each gun. Then I can't help wondering. "Why go through all of this to pick out a sidearm?"

"Because you have to know your gun. I see people join up, and get thrown a gun every day. It's not right. Your sidearm is supposed to protect you. You have to pick it out carefully, and get to know it, before you can commit to it." He says, and I can't help but chuckle.

"Sounds like you're talking about a woman." I say and we both laugh.

"Well I suppose they're similar. So you make your choice?"

"Yeah, I'll go with the Phalanx. It feels right to me."

"That's good. I always love to see someone find the right gun." He says excited.

"Man I gotta say. You love guns way too much, and I approve." I say and we both laugh. "Well I've got to get going. I'll see you before I leave for the mission." I like Chuck. He's a good guy.

"Yup, I'll have this baby, and your Mattock ready for you." He says as I leave. It's 7:45 so I'll head over to the conference room now. As I walk in I notice Tali and Ashley at the far end of the room.

"What's this? I'm not the first one here. I must be losing it." I say jokingly. Why do I feel like I'm late?

"Oh hey Jake. I figured you'd get here before the crowd. I just finished filling Tali in on the plan for the assault.

"How's it looking?" I ask curious about the mission details.

"So far so good. It's a sound tactic, and if all goes as planned it'll be a simple mission. You'll get the details during the briefing." Tali says answering my question.

"Aaah, no sneak peeks?" I ask in a jokingly whinny tone.

"No you can wait like everyone else. Speaking of them, it looks like we have another early arrival." I turn to see Jason walking through the door.

"Ma'am Lieutenant Jason White reporting in." He says to Ashley while saluting.

"Good to have you. This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema. She'll be commanding you during the mission."

"Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet one of the heroes from the Battle of the Citadel." He says shaking Tali's hand.

"The pleasure is mine."

"Good to see you made it Jason." I say.

"Well I thought I would be the first one here. I guess I was wrong about that." He responds.

"So you two have met already?" Tali asks, probably confused about our familiarity with each other.

"Yeah, we had a conversation at breakfast." I answer.

"So you two had a man date." Ashley throws in with a chuckle.

"The things I would say if you weren't my commanding officer." I say as I point at Ash. This gets a laugh from the four of us. "So where's Shala?"

"In the gym last I saw. She should be here soon." Tali answers. Figures, that woman practically lives in the gym. We wait there for the rest to show up. Eight comes around and we're still missing one. About five minutes later he strolls in casually like it's his damn house.

"Lieutenant Adam Black Ma'am." He says with what can be barely considered a salute. He's older, with obvious wear and tear. A scruffy beard, and short unkempt black hair. Then he looks at Tali and Shala, and gets a surprised look on his face. "What's with the suit rats? Those stupid rumors weren't true were they?" He says with almost a disgusted tone in his voice. Ok this guy just got on my bad side. You can be as much of an ass as you want, but if you insult my friends you're in trouble.

"These Quarians are your superior officers for this mission. So you'd better show some respect." I say with anger in my voice.

"I wasn't talking to you. Who is this Zenophile anyway?" Ok, I'm gonna kill him.

"He's my second in command. You'll be taking orders from him. So I'd suggest showing him some respect as well." Tali chimes in, a hint of anger in her voice, though she's better at holding it back than I am. Wait did she just gave me a leadership role.

"You've got to be kidding me! Ma'am tell me this is a joke. There's no way I'm going on a mission alongside a damn alien. Let alone be commanded by one." He says complaining to Ashley.

"You will do it anyway Lieutenant. You've been given an order. So either follow it or face a court-marshal." Ashley says in a commanding tone.

"Whatever, just get on with it then." He says as he sits down. He obviously isn't happy about the situation.

"Good, now everyone listen up. This is the target." She hits a few keys on the table display, and a holographic representation appears in the middle of the room. "It's an abandoned factory in Omegas warehouse district. The building has three floors, and a court yard." The image changes, showing the interior. "The first floor is a large open area where the assembly line once was, the other two are office areas." Ashley says as the image changes to give us better views of each floor.

"There will be five teams on the mission. Each of them is comprised of the different species involved. We're team one. Team two is comprised of Turian soldiers. Team three is a group of Asari commandos. Team four is a Salarian STG squad, and team five is a group of Krogan."

"Wait there are Krogan involved? Isn't it dangerous for them to be working with Turians, and Salarians?" Jason asks, and he has a good point. If they cross paths the Krogan are likely to try and kill the Turians, and Salarians.

"Yeah and why are they even involved? I thought this was an Alliance mission?" Black asks. I hate to say it but I was wondering that myself.

"They all have a score to settle with Ascendency. The only reason the Alliance is running the show is because it's a human organization that's being hit." That does make sense. Ascendency does have the habit of pissing people off.

"Is this organization really that serious of a threat? I mean putting Krogans in a mission with Turians, and Salarians is a desperate measure." One of the soldiers says. I think his name was Michael. That's when I chime in.

"Ascendency runs major Illegal genetic, and tech based experiments. They kidnap colonists, soldiers, even young Quarians on their pilgrimage. Then they use them either as test subjects, or research data. As well as study the Geth to make profit. Hell I don't even want to know what they did to piss off the Krogan." I say trying to explain the situation. I've done extensive research on Ascendency over the past few weeks.

"They also have an extensive line of resources that can even rival that of Cerberus. There's also a private militia protecting them, and from what I've seen, it's nothing you want to underestimate." I say all of this, and everyone in the room listens in silence. I think they all just realized why I was chosen for this mission.

"Jacob's right. You can't take them lightly." Ashley says. "Now the targets will be gathered on the third floor. Jacob, can you explain to everyone who we're after." She asks.

"No problem. Ascendency has a tight chain of command. At the top of that is a board of directors, headed by a man known only as Director Smith. The meeting we will be attended by three head members, as well as Smith himself. If we were to get Smith alone into custody the entire organization would fall apart." I tell them. I found a lot of this out looking through the files I recovered. Then I realize what my role in this mission is. I'm here as information. I probably know more about Ascendency than anyone else on this base.

"And that's exactly what this mission is about. We're going to Omega in order to put an end to Ascendency." Ash says with confidence in her voice.

"So what's the plan of attack?" Shala asks. It's obvious she's getting anxious. After all I doubt she can wait to kick some ass.

"First the STG team infiltrates the top floor. They will assess the situation, and the number of hostiles. We'll position ourselves in the courtyard with the Turians waiting on the signal. The Krogan and Asari will be in alleyways on either side of the building. Once the Salarians give the signal we'll infiltrate, along with the Krogan and Asari. The Turians will bunker down in the courtyard to take care of any reinforcements. Any questions so far?" Ashley explains.

"How many enemies can we really expect?" Another squad mate asks.

"It's a large building. There could be anywhere from a few dozen, to a couple hundred." Tali answers.

"I'd bet on the later myself." I say. "Though with an assault from multiple directions numbers shouldn't be too much of a problem. What will the Salarians be doing while this is going on?" I ask.

"They will be hidden on the third floor waiting for us to reach them, and making sure the targets don't escape beforehand. Once we infiltrate the Krogan will take a majority on the forces on the ground floor. Our team will accompany the Asari to the second floor. They will then take over the combat there, while we make out way to the Salarians."

"Wait so we're just avoiding the fights?" Jason asks.

"That's right, your job is to get to the third floor and capture the targets. The other teams will then ensure the way is clear as you escort them out of the building, and onto a shuttle." She says as the display shows a Kodiak drop into the courtyard. "Any questions?" she takes the silence as a no. "Good then go out, and get to know each other. Dismissed." We all leave the room.

I head back to my room and the day goes as normal. Training, lunch, more training dinner. The usual shit. Then Jason walks up to me.

"So you ready to have some fun." He says. Oh yeah that's right we're going out tonight. I had almost forgotten.

"Sure let's go." And as we walk down the hall to meet up with the rest of the squad, I get a strange feeling I'm going to regret what is about to happen.

* * *

**There you have it.**

**I was a little rushed at the end so i hope it came out ok.**

**Next chapter will be the long awaited arrival on Omega.**

**Also I love it when people review, so keep it up. If you have anything constructive to say please do.**

**If you like this story be sure to check out Odyssey 2183 by Gray Spectre Warden Boom.**

**And if you are a fan of Assassins Creed r****ead the new SI Creedless by FlurryOfStrife.**

**Until next time this is StrifeOkami signing out. **


	7. Chapter 7 Friends

**I apologize for taking so long on this one.**

**Enjoy**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 7

Friends

"Nugh." The only thing I can do as I wake up is groan. I have a splitting headache, and it feels like I'm hanging upside down. It's not until I open my eyes that I realize I'm lying on my couch, half hanging off. As I try to right myself I fall onto the floor, face down.

"What the hell happened last night?" I ask myself. The last thing I remember is getting to the lounge and seeing the rest of the team. "Holy shit, how much did I drink?" I ask rather loudly and regret it soon after. The noise makes the pain in my head worse.

"About three shots if I remember correctly." Tali says. I'm just now noticing that she's here. I usually like her voice, but at the moment not so much.

"Could you please shut up before I have an aneurism?" I say loud enough for her to hear me, but quiet enough so it doesn't kill me. "And what do you mean only three? I feel like I put the alcohol industry out of business." I say confused, and a bit grumpy.

"Nope, you were drunk after the first drink. By the time you finished your third you were on the table singing. Badly I might add." She says quietly with a bit of a chuckle.

"What was I singing?" I ask trying to get my mind off the pain.

"I think it was a band call Journey if I remember correctly." She answers. Well that's just great. I really hope no one took a video. "You eventually passed out, and we took you to med bay to see Chakwas. According to her your liver can't filter alcohol. Hence the magnified effects." Ah that explains it. So I didn't go overboard, I'm just one hell of a lightweight.

"Well if you don't mind me I'm just going to go back to bed." I say as I relax on the cold floor.

"I should probably warn you, Shala's on her way here right now."

"Oh, well isn't that nice." I say in a daze… Then my eyes shoot open and I jump up. "Do not let her in here! Ughh." I yell, then immediately fall back down in more pain than before. If she comes in here right now she'll torture me.

"I don't know. It might be funny to watch." She says laughing.

"I will pay you 100,000 credits to keep her away from me." I say desperate, but unable to move.

"Maybe I should just play you some music. I'll have the volume all the way up so you can hear it." She says obviously amused by the situation.

"I fucking hate you." I say still unable to do anything. Then I hear the door open. At that moment my heart sinks. I might not make it out alive. Shala walks in and doesn't waist a second tearing into me.

"Hey Tali! Where's Jacob!" She yells. "Oh there he is. Is our little light weight taking a nap?"

"You're death will be long and painful." I say trying to act threatening. Though that doesn't really work out very well when you're on the ground in pain. The two of them start laughing, and my headache gets worse.

"As amusing as this is, Chakwas asked me to give this to you." She sets a container with two pills in it and a glass of water on the table. "She said it should help with the hangover."

"Thanks." I say as I struggle to sit up. I take the meds and almost immediately I can feel myself start to get better. Whatever it was did the job. As my headache subsides I get up and sit on the couch. "And here I thought I wasn't going to make it. Tell Chakwas that I love her." I say jokingly. This gets a laugh out of everyone.

"Are you sure? Someone might feel jealous. After all, while I was carrying you back here all you could talk about was how you had slept with Tali." Oh shit! Apparently I can't keep my mouth shut when I'm drunk. Tali is the first to respond to this. She must look as shocked by the words as I am.

"Shala it isn't what you think. We didn't, I mean not really, nothing happened." She stumbles with her words, sounding embarrassed.

"Let it go Shala." I say hoping she'd listen for once.

"Oh sure I should just ignore all those things you said about you comforting her in the night. How you were holding her in your arms." She says in a mocking tone.

"I said let it go." I say with a frustrated tone as I stand up. Her constant joking is starting to annoy me.

"Oh did I strike a nerve. I didn't know you were so sensitive. Or maybe the little boy is just embarrassed that I found out he has a crush." She says still antagonizing me, but now she seems frustrated as well.

"Get out Shala." I say pointing at the door. Now I'm not annoyed, I'm just angry.

"Why, you wanna spend some more time alone with your girlfriend? Maybe Black was right, you are just some xenophile." She says as she leans in closer to me. We stand there arguing for a few minutes. Both of us are too stubborn to let the other get the last word. Tali can only stand there helpless. Even if she tried to stop us, she couldn't at this point. It's gone past jokes, and antagonizing. We're both pissed.

"I don't even know why I spend time with you! You've done nothing but get us into dangerous situations, and complain!" Shala yells. That's the last straw.

"Maybe because anyone else you would spend time with is dead!" I yell back. This leaves her speechless. I can hear Tali gasp. Even I know that I went too far with that one, but I'm too angry to admit it. Most people would have walked away after hearing something like that, but not Shala. Next thing I know I see her fist coming towards my face.

…

"Ow." I groan as once again I'm waking up in pain. This time I'm in med bay.

"Good to see you're awake. I just wish I didn't have to see you here so often." I hear Chakwas say.

"I got the shit kicked out of me didn't I?" I ask as I sit up. Though the pain answers my question for me.

"That you did. Knocked out in one punch. How are you feeling?" She asks while shining a light in my eyes. Never understood why doctors do that, but I'm getting off topic.

"I miss my hangover. That didn't hurt as much. She's got a damn good right hook." I answer.

"I'll say." I hear another voice. I look to see Jason at the other end of the room.

"Oh hey Jason. What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I'm the one who brought you here. I think Shala's still on a rampage somewhere, and Tali seems upset." He says. Just as he finishes Tali walk through the door.

"Good you're awake." Tali says as she starts walking towards me.

"Yeah though I'm not feeling that g"*Slap*

"What the hell were you thinking saying something like that?" Tali yells. I'm too shocked to speak. I've never seen Tali this angry. I feel the warm sting on my cheek. "Shala's still upset over what happened."

"What's she doing, punching something in the gym? What's so odd about that? She'll be fine once she cools off." I say brushing her anger aside. *SLAP* this one is harder. "Ow, would you stop slapping me!"

"I will when you stop acting like a stupid bosh'tet! The only thing Shala punched was you. Ever since then she's been in her bunk crying!" I hear what she is saying but it doesn't seem to register. Shala crying just does not seem possible to me.

"Why should I care?" I say brushing her off. He arm goes back to slap me again, but luckily Jason grabs her wrist and stops her.

"Let me talk to him." He says letting go.

"Hmph, fine" She says, and storms out. I rub my cheek trying to stop the stinging, with no avail.

"You realize that you went too far, right."

"What do you know about it?" I ask. Yeah I might be acting like an ass, but I'm still too angry to care.

"I don't know much about the situation, but I do know one thing." He says, sitting down in the chair next to me.

"Yeah, and what's that?" I ask.

"I know that you and Shala are good friends. You two can get past this. That is as long as you work things out." He says. Whatever, work it out or not it doesn't change the fact that I've successfully made two of my only friends hate me. I ignore him. "Well just think about what I've said."

The next two days both Tali and Shala avoid me. They're both still angry about what I said. Jason seems supportive, but he still wants me to apologize. I tell him that she should first.

Whenever I'm not dealing with this drama I spend some time meeting with the other teams. They arrived not too long ago, so I figured I'd get to know them.

The Salarians are led by an STG agent known as Captain Kirrahe. He seems to be a good man, and an excellent soldier. Has a lot of military bravado, but he backs it up.

The Turians are led by a Major Oenomeous. It's kind of a mouth full to say but he is an excellent leader. He runs his squad like a drill sergeant. I wouldn't doubt it if he was one. Highly disciplined, and even better trained, he'll defiantly be a big help on the mission.

The Asari are doing advanced recon on Omega. So I didn't get to meet any of them.

Finally the Krogan are at the ass end of the base. Far away from the other teams. They're led by the damn Chief leader himself. Urdnot Wrex. I remember Tali telling me about him, but her stories didn't do him any justice. He is one big son of a bitch, and a biotic. He had heard about my odd biotics, and said he'd like to see them in action. I offered a sparring match, but he declined. Said he didn't want to get riled up before the mission, but he apparently liked my spirit. Said that once we were done he'd take me up on that offer. That as well as me head-butting one of his men when he insulted me seemed to get his respect.

And so with that all out of the way it's finally time for us to head out to Omega. Unfortunately I was stuck in another small transport with Tali and Shala. I might not survive this one.

Everyone is silent. They can all feel the tension between the girls and me. It's going to be about a twelve hour trip, and it doesn't look like anyone will make a noise until it's over. I'm sitting on a row of benches on the starboard side of the small transport. Jason is to the right of me, while Tali and Shala are on the other side. None of us make eye contact for the first three hours. Then I feel Jason nudge me to get my attention.

He doesn't say anything. He just gestures his head towards the girls. I can tell he wants me to say something to them, but I don't know what I can say. I lower my brow, give him a look, and shake my head. Roughly translated into 'hell no'. He gives me a glare and gestures his head again. This time it's more of a 'do it now before I make you'. I give out a sigh and hang my head.

I think for a moment and realize just how much of an ass I've been the last few days. I want to apologize, but I don't know how to without getting punched again. Then it hits me. My head shoots up and I must have some look on my face, because Jason is giving me a 'what the hell are you planning' look.

Then I stand up, walk over, and sit next to Shala. I can tell most of the people there are deciding what to say at my funeral. Before anyone can say anything I activate my Omni-Tool, and go through my music library. When I find the song I'm looking for I play it immediately. The song is 'You're my best friend' by Queen. Shala knows what it is immediately. She would complain that I listened to it too much.

After I let the song play for a bit I turn to her with a guilty look on my face.

"I'm sorry Shala." I say hoping and praying for forgiveness. "I went too far, and have been acting like a dick for the last few days." She turns away from me, probably trying to figure out how to respond. After a minute she turns back.

"It's ok, I forgive you." I'm immediately relieved when I hear these words. "I was out of line as well. But you say anything like that again, and I'll kill you." She says threateningly. We both give a chuckle. Then I think back to all the shit the two of us have said and done together.

"We're going to hell aren't we?" I ask jokingly. She laughs.

"Well at least we'll be there together." She responds. I can tell that the others in the room are glad we didn't tear the ship apart. All except Black.

"Oh what a touching moment. Could you please shut up before I vomit?" He growls. I don't understand what is up with that guy.

"What's your problem Black?" I ask in a frustrated tone.

"Oh forget it. The sooner this mission's over the better." He really gets on my nerves. I can understand feeling uncomfortable around other species, but he takes things way too far.

"Look I need to trust you. None of us can be at 100% if we're expecting a bullet in the back." I say.

"We're on the same side, so as much as I don't like you, I'm not going to be against you. You can trust that." He responds. I hope he's telling the truth. For now I'll have to believe him.

I also apologize to Tali, and the entire situation is back to normal. The rest of the trip is rather uneventful. Just the usual bickering between me and Shala, with Tali and Jason trying to keep us from each other's throats. Tali's convinced that it is just our way of communicating with each other. And finally after twelve hours we make our final approach towards Omega.

"God the place looks like a shit hole from here." I say as I look at the station from the starboard window.

"The Terminus System's 'dark Citadel', at least that's what it's called." Jason says standing next to me.

"Ok listen up everyone." Tali says getting our attention. "The assault isn't until tomorrow so we've rented out a hotel for the night. I've been told that it's the safest one the Alliance could find, but be careful out there. No one is to go out alone. You're to stay in groups, understood."

"Understood." Most of us say at the same time.

"They have hotels on Omega?" Jason questions. I shrug my shoulders.

"Apparently." As we dock with the station, I finally get to take a step onto Omega in all of its glory… or lack thereof. "Wow it actually looks worse on the inside." I say as I look upon the rusted hallway we are in. We make our way to the hotel without incident. Though it's more like a broken down warehouse being used as a hotel. It doesn't take long to find our rooms.

"Well, uh, isn't this nice." Tal's says sarcastically.

"Yeah it's just like the rest of the station. Looks like a shit hole." I say with a chuckle. The room we're looking at has rusted walls, a torn up carpet, and I think I just saw something move. Other than that it has three beds, and a couch.

"I call this one!" Shala yells as she jumps on the closest bed.

"I'll take the middle one." Jason says walking over to said bed. Hey that rhymed. I'm a poet and I didn't even know it. Wow that is ridiculously off track. Back to the real world. Tali looks at me and I already know what she's about to say. I put my finger up before she gets a syllable out.

"You can take the bed. I'm fine on the couch." I say.

"Are you sure, I can take the couch if you want. After all, I know Shala won't give up the bed." She says with a snicker.

"Damn right I won't. It's already determined that I'm going to hell, so what do I care?" Shala responds laying spread out on her bed. The four of us laugh, and I walk over to the couch. It folds out into a bed so I might as well try it out…

"On second thought do any of you mind sharing a bed?" I have some sort of mix of disgust and begging on my face as I look at the indescribable condition of the couch-bed thing. I look at the rest of their faces and they're all equally as disturbed as me. The four of us quickly take it upon ourselves to throw the couch out the window. Management might not like that, but I don't really care. That's when we hear a knock at the door. I walk over to check it and see a large Turian at the door.

"Oh hey Oenomeous, how's it going?" I ask letting him in.

"Good. I thought I'd come by to chat." He says in his oddly gruff tone. It's kind of odd with the whole double voice thing, but oh well. "Tali you should know the meeting is starting soon."

"Oh good, I was wondering when it was." She responds as she gets up.

"What meeting?" I ask.

"It's for the squad leaders. We're going to go over the plans for tomorrow on last time." Oenom… you know what fuck it. The Turian guy answers. That name I too much of a mouthful.

"Jacob, as second in command of squad one, you'll be going to the meeting as well." Tali says.

"Yeah I've been meaning to ask you. What's with the whole second in command thing?" I ask. Seriously, why am I in a leadership role?

"It was Ashley's suggestion actually. With all the information you have on Ascendency, you're perfect for the job." She answers. Wow, they really think that I'm that important to the mission?

"Well let's get going." I say walking towards the door.

"We still have about ten minutes." The Turian says. He obviously doesn't know me very well.

"I like being early." I say looking back with a smile. He seems confused, and Tali walks in front of him.

"Trust me when it comes to this, there's no arguing with him." She says as she follows me out the door. Then I realize something, and stop.

"You mind coming with us? I have no idea where it is." I ask slightly embarrassed. HE puts his hand to his forehead.

"Follow me." He says, and we laugh. When we get to the room, I find that there are already two people there. Damn, I prefer it if I'm the first one to arrive. The two are Kirrahe, and an Asari. The Asari is a commando called Aleena, if I remember correctly.

"Good to know I'm not the only one who likes to be early." I say as I sit down. We're in a larger room, with a round table in the center. I take a seat on the right, with Tali to my left. Kirrahe is to the right of me, Aleena next to him, and Oenomeous is on the other side of Tali.

"Looks like we're just waiting on Wrex." Tali says.

"He should be here soon. The Krogan are staying off site to avoid confrontation." Aleena says.

"Yeah Wrex has his hands full keeping his men under control before the mission. Though he seems to be doing a good job at it." Oeno adds in. That's much easier to say. The door opens at that point, and on the other side of it is one big ass mother fucker.

"It's good to see you again Wrex." Tali says as he walks in.

"Long time no see. Good to know you're still up for some killing." He says in a strangely sincere tone.

"You're more likely to rack up a higher body count than we are." I say with a laugh.

"Can't wait to see you in action Jacob. Gotta find out if those stories going around about you are true." He says in a somewhat threatening tone. Though I think that's just how he talks.

"Maybe we can find time for that match after the battle. Then I can really show you. This gets a laugh out of him.

"Well Tali you defiantly find interesting allies." Yeah I know I'm acting tough, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm rather sure he would kick my ass.

"So what do you say we get down to business?" Oeno says as he brings out a holographic display. It's a set of blueprints similar to what Ash showed us. "As you all are aware of this is the building we will be assaulting. You all know your jobs and positions. The only thing we are unaware of is the number of enemies, and where they will be positioned." At that moment an all too familiar feeling sweeps over me.

A surge of information goes through my mind. Past ops, troop layouts, and general tactic that Ascendency uses. Shit, with this I think I can predict where they will be.

"Guards will be posted in these locations. In a building this size there's likely to be approximately 150-200 soldiers. The will also be another platoon as backup off location. The communications specialist will be stationed here. If we take him out first they will be disorganized." I say as I use my Omni –tool to how them the locations on the display. They all look at me in shock. They all knew I was here as an expert on Ascendency, but they had no idea I knew this much. Hell I didn't even know.

"Well you just gave us an easy victory." Kirrahe says. The rest of the meeting is fine tuning the plan to fit the new information. Finally it's over and I walk out to see one the manager of the building we're in.

"Mr. Terminus?" He asks. Wonder what he wants.

"Yes?" I ask.

"There's a man in the lobby looking for you.

"Odd I'll check it out." I head down stairs and Tali follows. When we get there I see a heavily armored Batarian. "You wanted to see me." I say a little suspicious.

"Are you Terminus?" He asks. Well he isn't very friendly.

"That I am." I answer.

"Aria wants to talk with you. Get to Afterlife." Well this should be interesting.

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. It's because of you that I have the will to write.**

**I've noticed a lack of action in my last few chapters. ****Rest assured that will change soon.**

**Now it's time for the shameless plugs.**

**If you are a fan of this story, and like self inserts, check out Odyssy 2183 by Grey Spectre Warden Boom.**

**Are you a fan of Assassins Creed? Then read Creedless by FlurryOfStrife.**

**Check out the new story Branded by AmrasElanesse and follow Hawk as he goes through the story of Fire Emblem Path of Radiance.**

**Thank you for one again putting up with me.**

**As always if you have anything to say, please leave a review.**

**Until next time, StrifeOkami signing out.**


	8. Chapter 8 Omega

**Sorry for taking so long to upload this one.**

**I've been swamped with ideas resently, so i decided to take a short break from writing.**

**I wasn't very happy with my last chapter, and i wanted to make sure this one was better.**

**If you have any comments or ideas that you think will help, feel free to let me know.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 8

Omega

What an interesting turn of events. I'm in Omega an hour and the Queen herself has requested my presence. As we walk towards Afterlife, I have a feeling that she isn't going to want a simple chat. Good thing I have backup. The backup being Tali, Jason, Shala, and Oenomeous. We're all fully armored, and well-armed. Usually I'd say we were being paranoid, but hey, it's Omega. Seriously, I saw someone getting mugged five minutes ago.

"So any ideas on what she wants?" I ask no one in particular.

"Not a clue. Let's just hope she doesn't want us dead." Jason replies. Yeah I would like to live.

"Well only one way to…" I stop mid-sentence, distracted by the sight of three Batarians. It looks like they're hassling someone. Then I notice it's a Quarian. "I'll be right back." I say as I walk towards said Batarians.

"I told you what would happen if we didn't get the credits." I hear one of them say. He looks to be the leader of this little group.

"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" I ask getting their attention. They turn around and don't look happy.

"Stay out of this." The leader says.

"Now why would three upstanding men like you, be hassling this young lady?" I ask sarcastically. Normally I would have stayed out of it. I would have walked by and not thought anything of it. I actually feel terrible about that realization. Though for some reason the fact that it's a Quarian bothers me. Oh well I'll think about that later.

"Leave now or we'll deal with you next human." He says as the one to his left gets ready to raise his gun. He's a big guy, looks to be a few inches taller than me. Before he gets the chance, I grab my pistol and point it between his eyes.

"That's not a good idea Mongo." I say not breaking eye contact with the leader. "Now as for you Twinkle-Toes." I say to the leader. "Take you boyfriends and get out of my sight. If you bother this young lady again I won't be so nice." They look angry, probably thinking of attacking. When the others walk up behind me the leader signals to leave. The last one looks reluctant. "You too Candy-Pants." I say and he follows.

"You're an idiot." I hear Shala say. As she slaps me on the back of the head.

"Well it worked didn't it. Are you ok miss?" I ask the young Quarian. She has a dark blue suit, and is about an inch shorter than Tali.

"Yes I'm fine. Thank you." She says. I start to feel better about myself. "But that was a stupid thing to do." And there goes the good feeling.

"Well sorry for saving your ass." I say jokingly. "The names Jacob and your name is?"

"Rati, and next time you should really think about what you're doing before you jump in. If your friends hadn't been there, you'd be dead."

"Trust me; I've gotten myself in worse situations." I say with a chuckle.

"Yeah, and I usually have to bail him out." Shala says.

"Thank you Shala. Your input is always welcome." I say sarcastically.

"Well thanks again for the help; even if it was a stupid thing to do." Rati says. God how ungrateful can you get. "If you don't mind me, I've got to get out of this cesspool."

"Here if you're ever in anymore trouble contact me so I can jump in and save you again." I say as I give her the contact information for my Omni-Tool.

"Thanks, I'll see you around." She says as she leaves.

"What an ungrateful bosh'tet!" I say when she gets out of earshot. "I save her ass and she calls me an idiot. Disrespectful, ungrateful, UGH!" I rant on as we continue walking.

"So what you're saying is you like her." Tali chimes in. I think for a moment before responding.

"Yeah, kind of…" I say in a defeated tone. They all get a laugh out of it. I look up, and see that we've made it to our destination. "After Life."

"You always take us to the nicest places." Shala says sarcastically. "I mean there was that abandoned Eclipse base, the colony being attacked by collectors, and now this." God I really hate it when she's right.

"Well let's just hope we can get in without a hassle." Oenomeous says. I look and notice a human male arguing with an Elcor bouncer, trying to get in. I walk up to the bouncer, right past the line.

"Excuse me, I was told that Aria was expecting me." I say.

"Courteously, you may go in." He says in the usual, deep, monotone, Elcor voice.

"What the hell!? I've been here for an hour, and you just let them by!?" The man complains.

"Uncaring, He is on the list." The bouncer responds. I can't help but chuckle as I walk by. Then I notice Shala staring at the bouncer.

"Shala you ok?" I ask. She doesn't answer. All she does is point at the Elcor.

"You." She says in an intense, threatening voice. Oh god, what now? He turns to look at her.

"Confused, have we met?" He asks.

"You're the bastard from the Citadel." She says leaning in closer, still pointing at him. I can only guess that he thinks for a moment. Then I swear I see his eyes widen.

"Fearfully, oh no, not you. P-please do not hurt me. Pleadingly, I am sorry; I will not hit on you again. Begging, please I can't go through that embarrassment again." He says. I swear I think I can actually see the fear in his eyes.

"Shala, leave him alone." I say as I try to pull her away. Though she won't budge. She just stares intensely at the poor Elcor. Jason grabs her and we both try to pull her away. As the two of us force all of our weight in the other direction, she actually starts moving use. Tali and Oenomeous join in, and she finally budges.

"Let go of me you bosh'tets. I'm not done with him! You got lucky this time!" She yells as all four of us drag her through the door.

"This is going to be a long day." I say as I take a breather. "Did you really have to scare him like that?" I ask between heavy breaths.

"What can I say; I have a bad tendency to hold a grudge." She says with a shrug.

"Come on between Jacobs rescue mission, and Shala's vendetta, we're already late." Oenomeous says. God damn it, I hate being late. As we walk approach the inner door, the music can already be heard. As the door opens we are almost knocked back by the noise.

The vibrations pulse throughout my body, and a strong smell of alcohol hangs in the air. The first thing that we notice, upon walking in, of course, is the elevated section full of strippers.

"Well then." Both Jason and I say at the same time. The two of us watch the closest Asari stripper as she flexes and contorts into different positions. "Ow!" Our staring grants us elbows to the ribs from the ladies. That gets a laugh out of Oenomeous.

"Come on if I'm right Aria should be this way." I say as I lead the way to the right, towards the back of the club. Between all of the drunken patrons, loud music, and strippers, I'm so distracted that I almost walk right past a set of stairs with an armed Batarian guarding it. That must be the place. We make it up the stairs and there she is. Surrounded by about eight guards, though I doubt she would even need them. As I look at her sitting on a couch, overlooking the rest of the club, I can tell she has power.

"I'm here to see Aria T'Loak." I say to the guard at the bottom of the stairs leading to her perch.

"Don't move." He says as he scans me with his Omni-Tool. Not sure if I want to know what that's for. "What the?"

"Something wrong?" I ask as he looks at the scan.

"Are you sure you're even human?" I hear Aria ask. Her voice is steady and calm. Though it still more threatening than anything I've ever heard.

"Last time I checked. Why?" I ask as I take a few steps towards her.

"Because you have more modifications built into you than I can count." She says not looking up from a data pad which I'm guessing has this information.

"Good to know. Now, why is it that you called me here?" I ask getting a little impatient. I'm standing at the top of the steps, while she's sitting in the center of the long blue couch. She finally looks up at me, and I get twice as nervous as I was a moment ago. Her eyes are calm, but they dig into me as if they were drills. Just looking at her, I can tell that she is not someone I want to fuck with.

"I've been hearing a lot about you recently. I wanted to put a face to the name you've been making for yourself." She says in an even tone.

"Well I must say it's nice to get a face to go with your reputation. I'm not at all disappointed." I say as I look over at one of her guards.

"You shouldn't have to worry. As long as you don't break the one rule of Omega, you won't have to see the full extent of my reputation." She responds as if she's warning me.

"And that rule is?" I ask curiously. Though I think I have a good idea of it. She gives a small smirk; as if she loves to say what is about to be said.

"Don't FUCK with Aria." I knew it.

"I like it. It has a ring to it. So out of curiosity, what kind of rumors have you heard about me." I ask.

"What, like the human with the red biotics, who has taken on an army of collectors and lived, and is now working for the Alliance. I must say the army of collectors is one thing. But the biotics, now that gets my attention." She says. She gets an almost evil look in her eyes.

"Hmm, how so?" I ask, not sure what she is going to do next.

"It's not often that I find something I haven't come across before." She says as she stands up. Shit what is she planning? "I'd like to get a chance to see them." And before I have time to say anything, she fires of a shot of biotics aimed right for my chest. At the moment my reflexes kick in, and I throw up my arm. Making a shield like barrier, I'm just barely able to block her attack. I feel the force of the attack push against my body. If I hadn't protected myself I would have hit the back wall. Such a strong attack, but something feels off about it.

The guards start to lift their weapons, but she waves her arm signaling them to stand down.

"Impressive. Not many people can block an attack like that. I'm curious as to where you got all of that power." She says with a smug tone.

"I'm curious as to why you were holding back." I respond.

"What?" She asks.

"Right when it hit my shield, I could feel it. The force was about to break through, but you pulled it back. I didn't peg you as someone who pulled their punches."

"You have some decent senses. Let's see what you can really do." She says as she throws her arm out for another attack. I do the same. Extending my right arm towards hers. Feeling the flow of power, as the mass effect fields are manipulated around me. Our attacks clash, ripping and tearing at each other, I feel her strength. It is as if her centuries of experience are flowing through her, and into me. We're deadlocked. Neither force gains advantage. Then she stops holding back.

I feel the pressure increasing. I throw my other hand towards her, but it is in vain. I'm being pushed back. She is clearly the better of us. I need more power. I know I have more, but it just won't surface. Effortlessly she breaks the clash. I feel as if a frigate crashes into my chest. I am shot towards the back wall, and something within me awakens. I gain my composure. Enveloped in energy, I hit the wall feet first. Mass effect fields holding me up, then a rage erupts from within.

"Aaaaargh!" I kick off the wall, and fell as if I am made of energy. I shoot towards her. Out of control, the rage within is the only thing guiding me. With a force that would kill a normal person I charge towards her. Then… she catches me.

"Ugh." I hang there, her hand clutching my throat. My rage subsides. Smothered by her will, I see her arm begin to glow. Ah shit. This is going to hurt.

"I must admit, you have some power. But you lack proper control. Know your place you fool." She says, and she throws me. As if I was a rag doll, I am sent flying, once again, towards the opposite wall.

"Oof." The air is knocked out of me as I crash into the cold metal. Then once again as I hit the floor.

"Jacob!" I hear Tali yell as she runs to my side. I look up to see her leaning over me. As well as the other three, guns drawn, at a standoff with Aria's men. This will not end well.

"Stand down." I hear Aria say. "My curiosity has been quenched. Get out of my club unless you want another lesson."

"Nope, I got it. Don't fuck with Aria. I'll leave." I say as I try to stand, though I stumble back down. Tali puts one of my arms around her shoulder, and helps me stand. Jason takes the other arm, and we make our way out of the club. As we exit the exterior door I notice there's a different bouncer standing there. He must have gone home early. I chuckle to myself.

As we walk by, the man who was trying to get in before gives me a confused look.

"Don't fuck with Aria." I say as I'm dragged past him. We get about one hundred feet away from afterlife, and I start to feel strength returning to my legs. "I think I can walk from here." I say. They put me down. I stumble a bit but I gain my footing.

"You realize that you came close to being killed right?" Oenomeous asks with an annoyed tone.

"And getting the rest of us killed!" Shala adds. I think she wants to punch me.

"Yeah, I won't be going back there any time soon." I respond in a joking tone.

"I think Aria likes you. Otherwise we would be dead." Jason adds. With a chuckle.

"Well I can't say I share the feeling." I say. Then I think back to what I did in there. "That last thing I did, what the hell was it?" I ask. I've never used a technique like that before.

"It looked to be a Biotic Charge. It's the specialty of the Vanguard class of biotics." Jason answers. "A friend of mine can use it. It usually requires special amps to focus the field properly."

"Vanguard." I say as I look at my gloved hand. That can't be a coincidence.

My train of thought is interrupted by a Salarian who walks over to us.

"Excuse me. You look like a group who gets into a lot of fire fights." He says in a fast pace.

"Yeah, you could say that." Tali says with a chuckle. I can't help but smile.

"Well my name is Izzik, and I'm the best armor suppliers in all of the Terminus systems." Hmm sounds interesting. "I do business with all of Aria's guards, and for the right price, I can offer you my own, custom made goods."

"Well that sounds interesting Izzik. If I'm ever in need of a new set of armor, I'll make sure to go to you first." I respond. This could actually be helpful. I'm going to have to keep that in mind.

"Very good. I'll let you go on your way then." He says as he walks away. Most likely he's going to go find someone else to do some advertising to.

"Why'd he drop Aria's name so casually?" Jason asks.

"Most likely to keep from getting killed by the people he's trying to con." Oenomeous replies.

"Yeah you're probably right. Come on; let's get back to the hotel. It's getting late." Tali says in her commanding tone.

"Yes ma'am." I say jokingly. We're able to make it back to the hotel without any trouble. Then Shala and Oenomeous started trading war stories.

"…So I've got a pistol, three clips, and an angry Colossus on my ass. Cut off from my team, I've got to take the thing down myself." Shala muses on through one of her favorite stories. "My cover is about to break, and it charges up a final shot. The thing lets loose, and the blast is coming towards me. At the last second, I leap from cover, aim at the bastard, and fire just as the blast hits. I'm sent flying from the shockwave of the impact, and I've gotta get moving. Then I look, and realize the thing's down. That midair shot, hit the thing right in the optical center. That combined with a malfunctioning main gun, due to the missile from before, took the thing down." She finishes. One thing I always liked about Shala is how enthusiastic she gets with her stories.

"Yeah, yeah, so you got in a lucky shot, on a damaged machine. I've got to get back to my men, but after the mission tomorrow remind me to tell you the one about my squad being chased by three Threshers." Oenomeous says casually. He on the other hand, rarely ever shows emotions. Most likely from all of the training, and discipline he went through in the service.

"Yeah we'd better be getting some sleep anyway." I say as I get up from my seat on the floor. The couch was gone, and I wouldn't have sat on it anyway. Tali was sitting next to me, and I offered my hand to help her up. Luckily, I'm getting used to the three finger thing. "I'll see you tomorrow Oenomeous." I say as I hold out my hand.

"I can't wait to see you in action Terminus." He says as he shakes my hand.

"Ok, I've gotta get out of this armor." I say when he leaves. I had either been too lazy, of too paranoid to take it off when we got back. I walk into our small bathroom, which I expect to be similar to the couch. I'm thoroughly surprised when I walk in, and it's actually rather clean. As I remove the chest piece of my armor, I think about the Salarian we met, Izzik. I might take him up on his offer once the missions complete. Or at least check to see if he was trying to con me or not.

When I walk back into the main room, I see Shala already dead asleep, and Jason laying down reading something. Tali is sitting on the far bed about to go to sleep.

"Well floor for me I guess." I say quietly as I walk to the back corner.

"Oh it's not like we haven't shared a bed before. And I don't think Shala would pick on you about it again. Not after what happened last time." Tali says.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable." I respond. Jason is asleep at this point, and snoring.

"Get over here already." She says waving me over. I walk over to the other side of the bed and lay down. She lays down to the left of me. We pull the covers over us, and get comfortable. "You know, you're one of the best friends I've ever had Jacob." Tali says in a soft voice I'm taken off guard. It's not what she said, just that I wasn't expecting it.

"And you're one of my only friends." I say teasingly. This gets a chuckle and a light elbow from her.

"I mean it. Though we haven't known each other all that long, I feel… I don't know… a connection maybe. That's why I worry about you." She says turning on her side to face me.

"You have nothing to worry about Tali." I say turning towards her. But the second the words leave my mouth I realize how stupid they are.

"Of course I do. Just look at what happened today. It's just… I'm afraid… I'm afraid that I'll lose you, before we get the chance to be friends for a long time." She says with a concerned tone.

"Well then, we'll just have to make a deal." I say taking her left hand in my right.

"What kind of deal?" She asks confused.

"When we die, whether it's two weeks from now, or twenty years from now, you, Shala, and I will all meet in Hell, and have a good time." I say gripping her hand.

"Wait who said I was going to hell? I've already helped save the galaxy once." She says jokingly.

"Well then you'd better shape up. We can't have you being such a good girl anymore." I say with a laugh. She laughs as well, quietly of course. "And don't worry about tomorrow. I'll keep us all safe, including myself." I say in a determined voice.

"I know you will. Let's get some sleep." She says as she roles onto her back.

"Sounds good to me; good night." I say as I do the same.

"Good night." I close my eyes, and a feeling that I've never experienced hits me. I've had bad feelings before, but this is different, it's darker. This feeling, it's as if… everything will go wrong.

* * *

**And there you have it.**

**Not sure if i made Aria ooc or not. If so let me know.**

**Next chapter will be what you all have been waiting for. The infamous mission on Omega.**

**I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed. You are the ones who drive me to keep writing. **

**Also I'll be heading off to college in a couple weeks, so my writing may slow down a bit. But i'll try to release Ch 9 before then.**

**I'll skip the Shameless advertising this time around.**

**Until next time, this is StrifeOkami signing out.**


	9. Chapter 9 Thanatos

**I'm finally able to write some real action. **

**If this were a television series, then this would most certainly be the season finale. **

**Will questions be answered? What will happen when Jacob meets the Director? If you want to know, you'll have to stop looking at my useless banter, and start reading.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 9

Thanatos

This should not be happening. The plan was solid, and the tactic was sound. How could everything have gone wrong like this? It should have been simple. Get in, secure the targets, and get out. But here I stand, looking down the barrel of a gun. A single twitch of the finger and my life ends. We were so close. How could this have happened?

**Earlier that day…**

I'm lying on my back, on the bed. I'm awake, but I haven't opened my eyes yet. That's odd. I didn't have a dream. I'm both relieved by this fact, and worried. For some reason it gives me a bad feeling. I roll onto my left side, with my arm out past my body, and I feel my hand land on something soft. I'm too groggy to think about it. Then after a few more seconds, I open my eyes. I find myself staring rights into Tali's mask, which is about three inches away from my face. She is lying on her back, with her head turned towards me. I can tell by her breathing that she is still asleep. Then something clicks in my head. My eyes move from her face to her torso, and I realize that my hand is directly on top of her left breast.

"OH GOD!" I yell startled as I jump back, and fall out of the bed, taking the covers with me. "Ow." I say as I gather myself. Tali looks at me over the edge of the bed.

"Are you ok?" She asks with a mix of concern, and amusement.

"I'm good. Sorry I woke you." I say as I sit up. Thank god she doesn't know why I fell over. I'm not sure if I want to know what would happen if she did.

"That's fine. I was getting up soon anyway." She responds. Wait why was she getting up so early.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"Almost six I think. I was never that good with the human time system." She answers. Holy hell, I slept that long.

"That's odd. I don't usually sleep more than three hours." I say as I rub my left shoulder. It was still a little sore from the encounter with Aria.

"That is odd… Are you going to get up, or do you plan on sitting on the floor all day." She asks with a snicker.

"Maybe I was." I say as I lean against the wall, and cross my arms.

"Well get up. Mission starts in two hours."

"Yes ma'am." I say as I stand up. I see Jason begin to stir, and Shala still dead asleep. Oh I can't resist. "Shala!" I yell as I run, and leap into her bed. She wake up and turns just in time to see me flying at her.

"OH Shit!" She yells as I land next to her.

"Good morning." I say looking at her with a grin on my face. Then I see her fist coming towards me. "Ow! What was that for?"

"What the hell are you doing?!" She asks.

"Waking you up of course." Tali is on the floor laughing at this point, and Jason I pinching the bridge of his nose, while shaking his head.

"Well that's a rude ass way to wake someone up." She responds.

"What can I say? I'm going to hell anyway."

"And if you do that again, I'll send you there early." She says in a threatening tone.

"Can we ever have a normal calm moment with you two?" Jason asks.

"No." Shala and I say at the same time. Then we glare at each other. Well I think she's glaring. "We're not doing this again." We both say while pointing at each other. "God damn it" We hang our heads in defeat. I get up off the bed, and get ready.

As I take off my shirt to put my armor on, I notice the scar on my left shoulder. Damn Collectors. That fight was a disaster. I went in trying to save people, and look what it got me. A trip the operating room, some permanent damage to my hand, and I didn't save anyone. Never again will I let something like that happen. This mission will go off without a hitch. Go in, grab the targets het out. No problem. I've got this. No one will get hurt like I did.

**Two hours later…**

I look out towards the rundown buildings of Omega. The wind from the open shuttle door hits my face. The stench of the rotten Station crawls through my nose. Gunshots and screams can be heard every few minutes as we fly overhead. This truly is a god forsaken place. Our targets should be gathering soon, at the far end of Omega. As we make our approach towards the abandoned warehouse district, I can tell that some of us are nervous. Others are apprehensive. Shala seems almost exited. It's been awhile since she's seen real combat. Me, well I'm calm. I can't explain it, but through the filth of the station, and the imminent danger, I feel a sort of serenity flowing through me.

"ETA ten minutes ma'am." The pilot says to Tali.

"Understood, we'll meet up with the Turians five minute after we land. Jacob contact Oenomeous, and let him know." She says. My main job in the group is to keep the other teams informed of the situation.

"Yes ma'am." I say as I activate my communicator. I put my finger to my ear and get a connection. "Team two; this is team one, do you read?" I say waiting for a response.

"This is team Two, we read you team one. Over." I hear Oenomeous say over the radio.

"Rendezvous in fifteen minutes team two. Over." I respond

"Understood. See you in fifteen. Over."

The ten minutes fly by, and next thing I know we're landing a good distance from the target. As we exit the shuttle I signal to our pilot, and co-pilot.

"Jenkins, Kowalski, stay with the shuttle. When I give the signal, move in for the pickup." I say in a commanding tone. Or the best one I can make, at least. We then make our way to the rendezvous point. I can see the target building, as we make our way into what seems to be the Omega equivalent to a street. While we of team one make our way down the right side of what is essentially a giant hallway, trying to stay out of sight. I look over to see team two doing the same on the left side.

Both teams make our way towards the warehouse at the end of the street. We finally arrive at the outer rim of the courtyard, and stay under cover as not to be seen by the enemy.

"Team four in position." I here Aleena say over the radio.

"Team five in position, and ready for some killing." Wrex says as quietly as he can.

"Team one and two ready for action." I respond.

"Keep radio silence until team three gives the signal." Tali says. As we wait for the signal, I tap into the enemy communications. God I love knowing ascendancy security codes.

"The meeting is starting. All units stay on guard." I hear an enemy operative say.

"We're not getting any contact with teams seven, or fifteen." Another soldier says. That can't be good. Tell me those aren't the ones who were protecting the side alleys.

"They we stationed in the alleyways." God Damn It! "It might just be a malfunction in the radio system. Teams twelve and twenty, go check on them." Shit this isn't good. The Salarians haven't given the signal yet.

"Teams four, and five, you have bogies heading your way." I say over our channel

"What should we do team one, we haven't gotten the signal." Aleena asks. The Asari will be able to take them out quietly, but not the Krogan. If they get to that door before the signal, the Krogan will rush in, and the mission will be blown. As we all sit there, feeling the apprehension of the moment, a sudden alarm goes off in our ears.

"This is team three, all units attack!" I hear Kirrahe call out over the radio. Then we all kick into action. I emerge from cover, aim my Mattock, and begin firing on the large group covering the courtyard. As the rest of teams one and two begin firing, I can hear all hell breaking loose in the warehouse. The connection cuts out from the enemy radio. Good that means they took out the com. specialist before he got a signal out. I see a grenade fly past my head towards the enemies, clearing out the majority that was left.

"Teams one and two, move up." Tali yells as she signals us to advance. We take out the few strays, and make our way to the door. "Team two hold position. Team one advance." She orders. Shala and I bust through the double doors, and begin firing into the crowd of disoriented enemies.

"Jason, Shala, and I will make our way up the middle. The rest of you flank them from the left wall. We move through to the stairs." I command as I fire on more enemies. There must be hundreds of them in this giant room. But with the confusion, the Krogan, and the Biotics flying everywhere, they don't stand a chance.

"The three of us hurry through the crowd. I see an enemy come up behind Shala, and take a quick shot. It flies right past her head, and goes straight through the enemies black visor. I see bodies cover the ground. All of them wearing the black and grey armor of Ascendancy.

Working in perfect synchronization, we quickly meet up with the others at the stairs.

"Teams one and four, advance. Team five… keep up the good work." Tali commands. This gets a laugh out of Wrex as he continues to fight through the horde. We make it up the stairs with me at the head of the group. This level is office space, so it'll essentially be another large room, with a lot of cubicles. I turn the first hallway of sorts to be greeted by a pair of mobile turrets.

"Oh shit!" I yell out as they take aim at me. Before my reflexes have time to kick in I feel myself being tackled out of the way. I recover to see that it was Black who had saved my life. Ok I guess he's not as bad as I thought he was. "Thanks." I say regaining my composure.

"Don't make me have to do it again." He says in a gruff tone. But somehow it has a sort of mocking nature to it. I smile, and get back to business.

"How are we getting past them?" Aleena asks from the other side. I think for a moment, and then I get an idea.

"I've got it. I need two Asari proficient at making barriers." I say. Two of them then move towards the front of the main group. "Now I need a double layered barrier covering the opening." They comply, and I position myself behind the barrier. "Let's hope this works." I say as I aim myself behind the turrets.

"Wait you're not going to-" Tali starts to ask. Then I envelop myself in mass effect fields, and send myself flying down the hall. It's an exhilarating feeling. I can see everything around me, but it's as if my body isn't there. Replaced by the energy of the attack.

I feel myself make contact with the wall. The shockwave of the attack stuns the engineers running the turrets. I quickly regain footing, draw my pistol, and take the two of them out. One shot each to the back of the head. Then the turrets begin turning towards me. Oh shit, I didn't think this through all the way. I'm about to jump for cover when I see the machines get hit with an overload, and start to short circuit. I take the opening, and finish them off. I then duck behind the corner, as I notice more soldiers coming down the hall to my right. Aleena moves up and stands to the right of me as the others follow.

"On three?" I ask her. She understands my idea, and smiles.

"Three!" She yells. The two of us quickly move around the corner, and fire off shockwaves. Our combined biotics consume the hallway, sending the group of oncoming soldiers off their feet. Then Jason and Black move out from behind cover, taking low stances, to finish them with bursts of assault rifle fire. We continue down the hallway, and I notice a set of stairs leading to the next level.

"Team four, clear out this floor. Team one, follow me." I say. Our groups split off. Tali and I lead team one towards the stairs, while team two spreads out to rout the enemies. Half way up the stairs a pair of grenades gets thrown towards us. I'm able to quickly grab them with a biotic field, and throw them back. God I love my reflexes. Ok not the time to celebrate. Back to action.

"Take them back!" I yell as they fly back to their owners. I'm satisfied when I hear an explosion, followed by the screams of multiple soldiers. My breathing is starting to get heavy. Damn it, these biotics are starting to tire me out. I make my way to the top of the stairs in time to see Kirrahe pull a knife out of an ascendancy soldier's neck. Looking around I see multiple enemies taken out either by the grenade, or team three's assault.

"Terminus, the floor is clear, and the conference room is secure." Kirrahe says walking towards me. "All that is left is to secure the targets. It seems that they've sealed themselves in. We're ready to break through on your command."

"Understood, good work." I say relaxing, as I walk down the hall. At the end is a large double door, with multiple Salarians covering it. That must be where the targets are. Finally I'll get to see the director in person. I calmly, but quickly, make my way towards the door. I put the Mattock back on my back. As it retracts into its compact setting, and sticks to the magnetic holster, I grab the pistol off my hip.

"Everyone ready?" I ask as the gun clicks into its ready position.

"Ready." Jason says.

"Ready." Tali responds next.

"Just open the damn door." Shala says as she smacks a thermal clip into her assault rifle. I look to the Salarian ready to break down the door. I give him a nod, and he activates his Omni-Tool. There is a loud crack as the lock is blown off. The metal of the door glows red hot in the area the detonated. I bring my foot up and crash it into the metal. There is a snap as I break the last of the seal holding the two doors together. Immediately I take a step into the room, gun ready.

The sights of my pistol line up focused on the target in front of them. The director. I recognize him from the video I obtained from that terminal. The room is empty aside from its four occupants, and a large oval table in the middle. Two sit on the left of the table. One male, probably in his forties, and a female about the same age. On the right is another male. He's the youngest of the group, in his early thirties at most. At the end of the table, standing near the back wall, is Director Smith. He looks straight into my eyes. Looking to be about sixty, he is obviously the oldest of the four. The other three look terrified while he seems… almost contempt.

"Director Smith, you are being charged with treason by the Systems Alliance. Put your hands up, and step away from the table." I say taking a couple more steps towards the table. The rest of the team begins to enter the room. All four targets comply, and are secured. The youngest cusses under his breath, the man on the left seems worried, and the woman struggles as Tali restrains her. But Smith doesn't show anything. He has a malicious look in his eyes.

"It's good to see you up and about Mark One." He says as Shala retains his hands.

"Shut up." Shala says to him. Most of the others give aid, while Jason and Black hang back a couple of steps ahead of me.

"Jacob, alert team one. Tell them we have the targets." Talis says as she holds down the woman. Ok now the other teams clear us a path, and we call the shuttle to evac us, and the targets. I turn around, take a step towards the door, activate my radio, and put two fingers to my right ear.

"Team two, this is team one, we have the targets. I repeat, we have the tar-*Click*"I'm stopped dead in my tracks. I feel a gun pressed against the back of my head. My mind races as I try to think of who could be doing this. I come to only one conclusion. Black. I turn, and find myself staring down the barrel of a gun. A single twitch of the finger and my life ends. We were so close. But why? Why would he do it? My eyes trace past the barrel, over the hand, and up the arm. My heart all but stops when I see his face. The man behind the gun. The man staring me straight in the eyes, with a murderous look. It's…

"Jason?" I ask in disbelief. His eyes never leave mine. Putting his hand to his ear, he activates his radio.

"Move in." He says. I hear Oenomeous talking into the radio, though I have no idea how long he's been speaking.

"… What is the situation? I repeat Jacob are you there?" He asks franticly. "We've got enemies moving in on all sides, and we can't get ahold of any of the transports." He says in a worried tone. Suddenly Ascendancy soldiers flood into the room, and quickly secure my entire team.

"Tell Team two to stand down. They've got an entire legion of soldiers bearing down on them. If they surrender they will be spared." He says, still holding the gun to my head. Damn it! There's nothing I can do. I'm worn out, and there's too many of them. Defeated I put my finger to my ear.

"Oenomeous… stand down." I say in a grim tone. I hear a heavy sigh.

"Understood." He says. Then I can hear him give his, and all of the other teams the order.

"Good, now move." He says as he pushes me out the door. I see the Salarians lined up against the wall, guns pointed at them. They escort Tali, Shala, and I down the stairs. The executives are not far behind us. As we get to the second floor, I can see the Asari sitting in a circle, restrained. They are surrounded by soldiers. At the bottom floor, the Krogan are bound with heavy chain. Heavy weapons aimed at all of them. Normally I'd get a chuckle out of that, but not now.

"How… how could you do this Jason? How could you betray the Alliance like this?" I ask in a depressed tone.

"I didn't betray anyone." He says as her grabs my arm. We stop, and he steps in front of me. "I was following the orders of my real employer."

"And you've done an excellent job." Smith says as he stands next to him. "Oh is it good to see you here, alive." He says as he puts his hands on my arms. "You are the sole hope for Ascendancy."

"How? Why am I so important?! What did you do to me?!" I yell. I want answers. All I've ever wanted were answers.

"All in good time my boy." He says with a smile on his face. "For now, you will be taken to a facility. Don't worry, you will be safe. After all we can't let anything happen to you." I'm discussed. "Come now Jason. Take me to my shuttle, and then secure Mark One for transport."

"You're a bastard Jason." I say as he walks away. He ignores me. Then when they reach the door, the director stops, turns to Jason, and whispers something in his ears. No matter how much I want to, I can't attack. If I do, the others will be dead in an instant. All I can do is stand there.

Jason turns around. I don't know what Smith said, but Jason points his gun at me once again. I feel my heart skip a beat. Is this it? Do I die here? Time seems to slow down, and he does something unexpected. He turns his gun to my left. In an instant I know what is about to happen. I turn my head to look, and the gun goes off. The sound echo's through my mind. I see it all. The bullet enters center chest, and blood splatters. I'm in shock. Unable to move, all I can do is watch her fall the ground. I hear the impact as her body lands.

"SHALA!" My scream echo's through the room. I fall to my knees next to her. Blood is pouring out of her chest. I hear her cough, and blood splatters from her wound, onto my face. Pressing my hand against her chest, I attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Jacob." I hear her say weakly.

"Don't talk. You're going to be ok?" I say trying to comfort her. But I'm not sure if I'm trying to convince her, or myself.

"Don't lie. *Cough* I know I'm finished." She says as Tali goes to her other side. I prepare a thing of medi-gel, but she pushes my hand away. "Don't bother. I'm already dead.*cough*" I hear her gasp, as she struggles to breath.

"Hey look at me." I say as I place my left hand on the back of her head, and face her towards me. "You'll make it through this.*sniff* you've got to make it through this." I say between sobs.

"Tali, tell Vitor that I love him." She says, and Tali Begins to cry. Her weeps easily heard through her mask. "And Jacob. *cough* I want you to do something for me."

"What, what is it?" I ask though the weeps. My tears fall onto her mast as I pull her closer.

"Take… take off my mask. I want to see you face to face." She says, struggling to remain conscious. My throat closes, and I can't argue. I hold her with my left hand, and take hold of her mask with my right. I pull it away, and hear the hiss of the seal breaking. As it leaves her suit, I look into her eyes. Her brilliant gorgeous eyes. I see the marking on her forehead. While she has obvious signs of aging, she's still… beautiful.

"There you are." She says with a smile on her face. "Don't worry kid… I'll see you in hell." At that moment her eyes close, and she falls limp. Her chest is motionless, and the blood flow stops. Tears cascade down my face. My hands shake. It hits me all at once. Despair, depression, sadness. They fill me as I clutch her motionless body. I hear a scream fill the room, piercing through my very soul. Then I realize it's me who is screaming. Then… I snap.

All of the emotions I was feeling leave me in an instant. My muscles relax. I place her down gently. I don't hear anything. My body is numb. That only thing running through my mind and body… is rage. I stand and turn towards the door. Mass effect fields wrap around me as I walk. I feel a power I could never imagine run through my body. I think back to every moment I've had with Shala. The laughs, the arguments, the friendship. They've taken it all away from me. I feel myself lose control over my body. There's only one thing I want right now.

Blood...

* * *

**Writing this chapter actually left me a little depressed.**

**If you have any comments, questions, of concerns please leave a review.**

**I'm always open to new ideas, so if you have any please let me know.**

**I'll keep the A.N. short this time around.**

**Until next time.**

**StrifeOkami signing out.**


	10. Chapter 10 Inferno

**I apologize for taking so damn long to release this chapter.**

**I'll say more down at the bottom**

**Until then, enjoy**

* * *

Vanguard

Ch. 10

Inferno

_My body fills with pain, as if a thousand knives are being stabbed into me at once. A malicious darkness surrounds me. The screams of a million damned souls pierce the air. My nose fills with the scent of burning flesh. I am covered with blood as it pours out from the walls. The warmth burns my skin as if I was sitting in a pot of boiling water. My surroundings ignite with the bright heat of a sun. I lay there in pain and anguish, not even able to scream. _

_Something grabs my arm. I look to see a bent, twisted, and deformed hand gripping my flesh. Another takes hold of my leg. As more and more take hold, their grip crushes my body. The air is filled with the cracking of my bones. My screams echo as they grow louder. Then as suddenly as it started, the pain ends._

_The hands retract into the ground as if they were scared away. My skin cools, and my senses return to me. A figure moves through the fire towards me. The flames slowly dissipate, and I'm able to make out the figure in front of me. I struggle to speak, choking on my own throat, one word makes it trough._

"_Sh…Shala?" I say in a raspy, broken voice. In front of me she stands. In a flowing black dress, her face uncovered. Long black hair falls over her left shoulder, like the elegant drapes of a mansion. Her brilliant eyes glow like the stars against the darkness. She moves to me with grace, placing her hand on my left cheek. Her touch is comforting, and soft._

"_It isn't time for you yet. You must go back." She says softly. "Take care of yourself kid. I'd better not see you again for a long time." She removes her hand, and moves away from me. I reach my arm out. Every movement is a struggle. The sound of scraping metal rings trough my ears. Blood splatters onto my face, as a large, rusted, twisted blade is thrust through Shala's chest. She yells out a horrendous, pained scream, as she is pulled into the darkness._

…

My eyes shoot open. Air fills my lungs in heavy, labored breaths. My vision is blurred, I can barely see. As I attempt to move, I find that I'm restrained to a bed. Disoriented I struggle against the ties that hold me. My muscles are tensed, and I begin to panic. Like a mindless animal, all I can do is try to wriggle my way out.

I hear muffled voices, and feel hands trying to hold me down. My mind goes back to the dream. The twisted hands. I yell, and grunt, as I try to escape. Blurry figures rush around me. Without knowing why I fight back. Then a pair of soft hands takes hold of my face. I hear a gentle voice. One that I could identify in any state. My muscles relax, and my vision clears.

"Tali." I say weakly, as if my voice hasn't been used for months. My mind returns to me. "Where am I?" She wraps her arms around me.

"I'm so glad you're awake." She says happily. Her body presses against mine. I try to the hug, only to realize once again that I'm restrained.

"Where am I?" I ask again, slowly regaining my voice. The room is filled with medical supplies. Another Alliance base? No, this is different, rough, and dark… God damn it. I'm still on Omega.

"My clinic. You were in rough shape. Still are. Required medical attention." A Salarian next to me says. He looks old, with scars on his face, and one of the horn things gone. That and he talks faster than most other Salarians. And that's saying something.

"Why am I restrained?" I ask confused.

"Oh keelah let me get those for you." Tali says as she begins releasing my restraints.

"Woke up on multiple occasions. Struggled each time. This was the only time you regained sanity." The Salarian responds. "Will give you time to yourselves. Call if you need me." The salarian says as he leaves. Well hell, he didn't tell me his name.

"What happened? How did I get here?" I ask Tali as she finishes with the last restraint. She pauses, and looks at me.

"Y…You don't remember?" She says with a hint of sadness in her voice. At that moment a shock goes through my body. The memories hit me all at once. I'm once again filled with anger. My fists clench, and light up with a red glow.

"Jason." I growl through my teeth. At that moment my body fills with pain. An unbearable sting I've never experienced before. My back lurches, and my arms curl in front of me. My insides feel as if they are about to explode from my chest. I desperately attempt to hold back a scream. Then I feel Tali Take hold of me.

"Jacob!" She exclaims worried for me. As the pain fades, clarity returns.

"What… What happened? Why am I in so much pain?" I ask looking intently into her mask. My breath still heavy. She looks away as if she is trying to find the words to say. "Tali." I take hold of the forearm. "What happened?"

"When she… died… you snapped. You went completely berserk. I looked up in time to see you walk towards the door. I yelled to you, but you never turned around." She struggles with the memories. Trying to find her words. I remember walking to the door, but nothing after.

"What happened when I reached the door?" I ask. Part of me is longing to know. The other is terrified.

"You broke it down. Not just kicking it open either. Your fist took both doors of their hinges, and sent parts of the wall with them… Then you… you…" She struggles to speak.

"What, Tali what did I do?" I grip her arm firmly and pull her closer. "Why did I need medical attention? Why am I in so much pain?!" My voice rises. I can't help myself. I have to know.

"You… Killed them… All of them." She says morbidly. "None of them stood a chance. Not against that. Over five hundred Ascendancy soldiers and you wiped them out." My mind barely registers what she is saying. How it even be possible.

"I did what? How?" I ask as my grip loosens.

"The mass effect fields were enormous. I heard you yell, then I heard everyone else. When I got outside you were standing in the center of a mass effect field the size of a cruiser. You had Jason by the throat. Everyone around you was being torn apart. When we got to you, Jason was ripped to pieces." Though I still find all of this hard to believe, I can't ignore the fact that I'm glad he is dead. "It took three Krogan, including Wrex to hold you down. Then you just blacked out."

"How… How could I have…?" My mind goes in circles. How could I have gone from being thrown away by Aria, to taking out an army by myself? It just doesn't make sense. "How long have I been out? I ask.

"About a week. Your body couldn't handle the amount of energy you put out. Mordin said you may never fully heal from the damage." I start to inspect my body. My left hand is torn up, Similar to my right. There are large tears running up my arm. As if something had forced their way out. My implants are visible in certain areas. And almost every part of my body is in pain.

"What about the Director?" I ask. God I hope he's dead.

"He left before the chaos started. It looked like the remaining forces where getting ready to wipe us out." Damn it. Of course he got away. I did this much damage to myself, and didn't even get him. At least Mordin was here to patch me up.

"Mordin is the Salarian I take it?" She nods.

"Yes he and his assistants fixed you up the best they could."

"Did he say how long this pain is going to last?" I ask afraid of the answer.

"He..." She looks down, and takes a saddening tone. "He said you would likely have it for the rest of your life." Goddamn it, why? Why does all of this get thrown at me at once?

"What about Shala?" I'm barely able to say her name. "What happened to her body?"

"The flotilla sent a transport. They gave her a hero's funeral." She responds.

"Were you there?" I ask.

"No, I stayed with you. There is a transport still here, waiting for me to leave. But… I can't. I won't leave you here to fend for yourself." God so much has happened. The firefights, the collectors, Shala. All of it has been my fault. If I wasn't with them, none of this would have happened to them. I can't keep putting Tali though this. It has to end.

"Go… go back to the Flotilla." Every word is painful, but it must be said.

"What? No I'm not leaving you." She says.

"I've kept you away from your people long enough. You have to go back to them."

"I can't just leave you here. I'm staying with you." She responds, raising her voice.

"I can take care of myself." I say as I hoist myself off of the bed. As my feet hit the ground I feel a sharp pain run up my leg. Tali takes hold of my arm to support me. "I'm fine." I say as I pull away from her.

"You haven't finished recovering yet. You're in no condition to be taking care of yourself!" She says. I lose it.

"I'm sick of people taking care of me! I can't stand being worthless! If I keep letting others take care of me, they're going to keep getting hurt!" I yell, unable to keep it all in. "Please just go. You'll be safer on the Migrant Fleet. Don't let me get you killed." I'm breaking down. My arms are shaking, my voice is trembling, and I can feel tears building up in my eyes. Even without seeing her face, I can tell that she is shocked. I turn away, and feel her come up behind me, and wrap her arms around me. We stand there in silence for a minute. Though it feels like an eternity.

"Keep yourself alive. You hear me? You'd better not die on me." She says in between sobs.

…

I'm on my own now. For the first time since I woke up I don't have anyone around me. Tali left for the Flotilla. It was a short goodbye. Just a promise, which I plan on keeping. That we'll see each other again.

I then had a long conversation with Mordin. Emphasis on the long. He sure likes to talk. It was mostly my condition, and things to do to take care of myself. Apparently during my inhuman rampage, I managed to damage most of the implants in my arms, as well as the Eazo deposits that give me my biotic powers. And those aren't the only thing that took a beating. My armor got torn to shreds.

Almost all of my equipment is useless now. My madock is in pieces, the chest plate of my armor is melted with a good chunk taken out of it. And I was barely able to get the information on my Omni-tool before it became unusable. My credit chit is intact at least. What I'm going to do now is anyone's guess. I suppose being a merc wouldn't be that bad of an idea. So here I am, wondering the abandoned streets of Omega with only a pistol to defend myself. This is going to be a bad day.

My internal monolog is cut short by a scream, followed by the voice of a Batarian. And he does not sound happy. I walk to my left to find a blown out wall, leading to a courtyard. I carefully navigate the metal shards protruding out from the wrecked wall. As I look out into the courtyard, I see a group of five Batarians surrounding a young Quarian.

"Wait, is that…?" As I look closely I realize that I recognize her. "Rati?" At that moment one of the Batarians shove her, knocking her to the ground. My mind fills with rage. No not again. I'm not letting her die! All I can think about is Shala. I feel mass effect fields engulf my body accompanied by sharp pains. I grab a jagged piece of metal protruding from the blown out wall, and break it free. Armed with a makeshift sword, I approach the bastards, my anger growing with every step. My feet move quickly, and with a purpose. I get close to them, and the small one notices me.

"Not you again. You're not walking away thi- Argg!" His words are cut short as I thrust my weapon through his gut. The others turn in time to see me rip the rusted blade out of his body. With outcries of anger they level their guns. But it's too slow of a reaction.

I charge the closest. My body enveloped, the impact sends him into the nearby wall. He yells with pain as he is impaled by a piece of metal similar to the one I hold. With him out of the way I turn to my right, and thrust the blade into the exposed throat of the larger Batarian. He falls to his knees as I pull the blade away. Choking on his own blood. The last two are finally able to take aim at me.

"Die Already!" the leader yells out. At this I launch myself into the air. Barely avoiding their shots, I angle myself, and thrust down on the other. Blood splatters onto my face from the impact. The blade pierces his clavicle, and moves down through the torso. I attempt to remove my weapon from his corpse, but can't get it free. The last one takes aim. Quickly I send out a shockwave, knocking him off his feet. Pain shoots through my arm, as if it had been crushed. I retract it as if I had touched a hot piece of metal.

Calmly I walk over to where the last one landed. The fear in him is evident as he desperately tries to crawl away. I stand over him as he scurries towards his weapon. Reaching out towards the Assault rifle he had been using to intimidate Rati, his arm is crushed under my boot. Using my left hand I wrap his upper body in mass effect fields, applying pressure to his throat, and lift him into the air. As he chokes for breath, I think of all the terrible acts he must have committed.

"Please- cough- spare me." He says, begging for his life. Filthy, disgusting, cruel. He doesn't deserve life.

"Tell me. Would you have spared her?" I ask motioning to Rati Still on the ground, in shock over what is happening. His eyes widen as he knows what is about to happen. "I didn't think so." I say solemnly. At this I use my other arm to take hold of his lower body.

His screams are deafening as his flesh is torn away from itself. First there is blood, pouring out of his body. His entrails come next. A disgusting stench fills the air. Then finally comes the snapping of bone. His cries end as the two halves of his body are separated. The sound echoes as they hit the ground. Then my mind returns to me.

Standing a pool of blood, I'm horrified. What have I become? What kind of monster have I turned myself into? My thoughts are cut short, as a shock runs through my body. I grip my chest, as I try to hold back the pain. It feels as if I am being cut, burned, and bludgeoned all at once. I'm unable to stand on my feet. The loud clang of my knees hitting the blood soaked floor echoes. Doubled over, I try my hardest to resist screaming. Suddenly I feel a pair of hands grip my shoulders.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you gonna be okay?" I hear a young voice ask. I look up and see that it is Rati. Thank god she is ok. My body relaxes, and most of the pain dissipates. I struggle to stand, stumble backwards, and finally gain my footing.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I respond while breath heavily. I've really got to take it easy. Why the hell can I never control myself? Shit, I lose my temper for a second and… people die. I suppose I was right to send Tali away.

"You sure? Looks like you could still use some help." She says. At least some one cares. But I can't put her at risk.

"No I'm fine. I can take care of myself." I answer.

"Well thank you. You defiantly saved my life that time." She says.

"No problem." I respond, rubbing my shoulder. Most of my body still feels stiff. "What did they want anyway? You don't really seem important enough for an entire squad of men to go after you."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?! I'm plenty important!" She says raising her fist. "Who the hell do you think you are anyway!?" Well that was a quick mood change.

"I'm the guy who just saved your life! You could show a bit more gratitude!" God how ungrateful can you be?

"And you could be less insulting, you damn idiot!" Our faces are only a couple inches away from each other as we yell. I can almost see through her mask at this point.

"Who are you calling an idiot!? You're the one who almost got herself killed."

"You're the idiot who, once again, just jumped into a fight! Hell you almost killed yourself there!"

"Well sorry for trying to be a Good Samaritan. What did you do to these guy's anyway? You steal something from them?" I say as I stand up straight, and lower my voice.

"For your information, I'm not a thief. These guys were part of a huge slaver group. I freed some of… their… Prisoners… Oh god, if they found me, they'll defiantly find them!" She says realizing her mistake. "Bosh'tet they're probably there by now."

"Wait, How many people are we talking about here?" I say as I lift up my hands to calm her down.

"About Thirty, all of different species. Shit, they won't be able to hold them off. They'll get taken for sure." She says as she paces quickly. Well she's obviously worried about them. I suppose I can't just let some slavers take them again.

"Let's go." I say suddenly.

"What? go where?" She asks as she turns towards me.

"We're breaking them out." I say as I turn and start walking."

"Wh-What!? That's a suicide mission. Are you insane!?"

"Most likely." I answer, contemplating the question myself.

"Ugh! You're going to get us killed!" She says as she runs to catch up. Let's hope not. For once I've got a good feeling about this one.

* * *

**And there you have it. It feels good to finally publish this thing.**

**I've been so busy at college since late august, so writing has been a bit of a challenge for me.**

**If you have any comments on my work, or any ideas for the story please let me know**

**I'd very much enjoy all of you to leave reviews. Positive input drives me to do better. And constructive criticism is always helpful. **

**Also if you'd like to chat I'd be happy to receive Pm's anytime.**

**Until next time, StrifeOkami signing out.**


End file.
